Expertise & Capabilities

has staff working in all telecommunications and media technologies and services, but we do specialise in satellite communications. In a nutshell, our satellite-related activities break down like this:

• VSATs - The VSAT Report, Regulations, Marketing Sales Assistance, Statistical Analysis.
• Broadband and Multimedia - we have conducted several Broadband Multimedia studies covering terrestrial and satellite services, technologies and markets. These have included prospects for Ka-band and Ku-band satellite systems as well as an analysis of competitive terrestrial technologies.
• Marketing and Competitive Analysis
• Expert Witness Advice - we are Law Society accredited as an expert witness.
• Financial Due Diligence
• High Level Executive Recruitment
• Frequency Co-ordination
• Transponder Contract and Pricing Negotiations
• TV Broadcasting and Satellite Capacity

Our strengths are our responsiveness, our primary research and our in-depth knowledge of the issues, technologies, companies and, most importantly, people in this industry. Please have a look around, we want to tell you about and what we offer, but we also want you to enjoy your visit so you will hopefully find our site interesting and amusing.  At the bottom of this page you will also find our client reference list.

has staff working in nearly all telecommunications and media technologies and services although we do specialize in satellite communications. In a nutshell, our satellite related activities break down as follows:

 areas of expertise include:

Satellite Technology, Marketing and Competitive Analysis: Through acquiring extensive experience in the satellite industry, the technology involved and services it can provide has developed a well established and resourceful satellite media services team. The company tracks the satellite manufacturing industry contract by contract (in a similar vein to our well known VSAT industry analysis). Through our satellite manufacturers’ database we are able to provide detailed information on planned and proposed launches, satellite capacity, system coverage and transponder availability. additionally has considerable experience in all areas of satellite planning, service and marketing strategies. Over the past two years we have been retained by three of the largest satellite manufacturers in the world to advise on a number of strategic and tactical issues. In 1997 we advised Loral on a number of issues relating to its acquisition of AT&T's Skynet division, primarily in quantifying the market for satellite services in two regions of the world. We also advised Hughes on potential business opportunities in one of developing markets. We spent most of 1998 in advising Lockheed Martin Intersputnik on a number of strategic and tactical issues, including developing its business plan, partnership strategies and co-ordination issues.

During 1998 we carried out a number of strategic planning and competitive analysis studies, including:

• Development of a business plan for a Teleport operator, including detailed analysis of complementarity and interoperability with fibre optic cable networks.
• Competitive analysis of broadband and mobile satellite services, including development of a cost model.

Television Services and Satellite Capacity: is well versed in all areas of television broadcasting issues including licensing, marketing, sales assistance, programming issues and strategic alliances. This enables us to quickly identify and source available capacity and, in conjunction with our wide contacts within the industry, arrange either capacity reservations or leases on any commercial satellite system currently in operation. We have also worked extensively in channel genre analysis enabling us to offer advice for sourcing programming for inclusion in an operator’s bouquet. Additionally, is a Direct Access User of the INTELSAT system, enabling us to directly reserve or lease capacity on any available INTELSAT spacecraft for a client and avoiding it having to pay an additional mark-up to a Signatory.

Broadband and Multimedia Markets: The potential of Ka-band satellites, Broadband satellite communications and the multimedia marketplace is already being realised and offers further advancement for satellite communications. has been involved in client studies on Ka-band technology for over a decade and the Broadband industry is a key area for with a great deal of expertise in this field. In 2000 we published the Broadband Report.  The methodology behind  our forecast model was extensively tested and the study was widely used by several large satellite and terrestrial broadband service projects and ventures as part of their finance activities and core business plans.  We continue to actively work in this area, now focused on VSAT systems.

Expert Witness Advice: has previously advised on a number of litigation issues relating to satellite transponder contracts, spacecraft insurance and contractual issues. All of this work has been conducted for cases heard by the English courts, where the Expert’s duty is to advise the court and not to act as a partisan advocate for one of the parties. In a recent case we produced a 130-page report for the High Court which described the way in which transponder contracts are negotiated and we are currently advising on matters relating to satellite insurance.

Frequency and Orbital Co-ordination Issues: Over the past two years we have been heavily involved in a number of co-ordination issues, primarily in advising clients on the practicalities of co-ordination negotiations. Over the past few years the number of satellite network filings has increased dramatically with many of these unlikely to come to fruition. Our in-depth knowledge of the satellite industry on a global basis allows us to provide clients with a unique perspective on the potential threat posed by each filed network. We have also conducted a number of on-site due diligence investigations in which we were retained to verify the co-ordination status of a specific network and were retained to conduct a due diligence exercise on one of the mobile satellite operators.

Financial and Project Due Diligence: 2000 saw a huge number of acquisitions and mergers both directly within and associated with the satellite communications business.  has long been involved in financial, commercial and technical due diligence and has worked on many projects of this type.  Our extensive knowledge of the business and many contacts help us offer support which give a potential bidder a marked advantage when assessing an opportunity.  We have supported both acquisition activities and the raising of capital for many companies through specific tasks as well as our multi-client studies.  During the past seven years we have been retained to advise on many major and smaller acquisitions.  COMSYS was involved in advising clients in all but one of the major satellite operator sales over the past few years as well as most of the major VSAT vendor processes and many operator acquisitions.    has strong links to the Wall Street financial community and has directly helped some companies in their search for capital as well as providing specialised support for some of the largest accountancy firms in their work for industry players.  We also assist a number of merchant banks by providing statistical information and related analysis on many aspects of the satellite industry.

Executive Recruitment: with our long history in the satellite business and extensive industry contacts at the most senior levels, is ideally placed to provide high level executive sourcing services.  Over the past few years we have been consulted by many companies seeking to fill positions from Director level upwards.  is able to identify and approach potential prospects with proven track records of success by working through our own resources and through specialised contacts with past experience of both the industry and the recruitment process.  We are known for both our reliability and discretion from our primary consultancy activities and this gives clients the confidence when working with us to source and place individuals in new and existing positions.

Transponder Contract and Pricing Negotiations: In the mid-1980's we advised Kinnevik in its transponder negotiations with SES/Astra - the first commercial transponder contracts to be negotiated outside the USA. We acted as the interface between the legal and technical officials and provided cost comparison data to our client. In 1994-97 we provided strategic advice to the Multichoice / Nethold group (now the biggest television operator in Africa), primarily in identifying which transponders the group should be using for its pay-TV and related operations around the world. At that time, the group had contracts for more than thirty equivalent transponders with an annual cost of almost $150 million. We continue to advise clients within the Multichoice group on related satellite issues for capacity in Asia, Africa and Europe.

Selected Past Client List:

Obviously, we would like you to buy our reports and use our services, but we also want you to find this site useful. To this end you will find information all around this site together with what we do and how we can help you - whether you are a user, operator or hardware vendor.

Once again, we would say that throughout this site you will find statistics and information on the telecoms market in general and the satellite market in particular. This information is copyright , but anyone may make use of it providing it is labelled as © and reference is made at each use to this www site (www.comsys.co.uk).