Tuesday, September 20 2005 12:27 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Bangalore: Satellite operators from around the world gathered in Bangalore today (Sept 20, 2005) looking to further reduce interference to satellite transponder capacity that's estimated to cause them loss of revenue in tens of millions of dollars per annum.

Abour 40 experts from Intelsat, PanAmSat, NSS, SES Global, EUTELSAT, INMARSAT, AsiaSat, Arabsat, SatMax of Mexico, NahuelSat of Argentina, Star One of Brazil, CSS of Japan, Thuraya, Singapore Telecom and INSAT are participating in the three-day conference and meeting of 'Satellite Users Interference Reduction Group' that commenced here.

SUIRG Chairman R James Budden said a 2001 study indicated that the loss of revenue to satellite operators because of interference problems is in the tens of millions of dollars per annum.

"This study did not look at the cost to end users, which is likely to be much higher", he said.

SUIRG is a not-for-profit organization incorporated in 2003. Its members leading global and regional satellite operators meet annually to share experiences of interference incidents and their analysis techniques in solving those problems.

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman G Madhavan Nair said, "Space is becoming very crowded. There are a number of operators. If we want to provide efficient service, interference has to be avoided".

According to SUIRG, satellite Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) is as old as the communications technology itself, and ranks today as one of the leading challenges of the satellite industry.

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) worked out a number of technical recommendations to analyze and mitigate satellite interference issues in the last four decades.

However, satellite interference problems have been on the increase in the last decade.

As a result, it has become critical to appropriately characterize the extent of interference problem, understand its causes and identify practical solutions that would assist satellite operators and users in minimizing the potential for these interference occurrences.

Today, there are approximately 220 commercial communications satellites in orbit, delivering a range of services including international and intercontinental telecommunications, TV broadcasting and distribution, Direct-To-Home TV, VSAT networks, and broadband data communications.

Budden said with the advent of Very Small Aperture Terminals (VSATs), and of more powerful and more sensitive satellites, the problem of satellite interference events have multiplied.

He called for better enforcement of procedures or changing to more effective procedures.