In an interview with SatelliteFinance's Pauline Renaud,CEO Paul Brown-Kenyon highlights Measat's expansion plans in emerging markets and potential partnerships with other satellite operators.

Despite various global economic setbacks, the Asia-Pacific satellite market continues to grow-a happy development that the Malaysia-based MEASAT Satellite Systems is bent on harnessing for its own future growth, which is aimed not only within the region, but also globally, as Yau Chyong Lim, vice-president, Business Development and Strategic Planning for MEASAT, reveals.

The World Radiocommunication Conference 2012 (WRC-12) held in Geneva, Switzerland, from January 13 - February 17 successfully addressed more than 30 agenda items on regulatory and technical matters relating to all types of radiocommunication services. Among the agenda items relevant to broadcasting were the use of the 21.4-22GHz band as well as its associated feeder link bands for broadcast satellite service (BSS) in ITU Region 1 (Africa, Europe, Russia) and Region 3 (Asia), and the harmonisation of spectrum for electronic newsgathering (ENG).

Fuelled by rapid economic growth, and supported by market deregulation, the Asian direct-to-home (DTH) pay-TV sector has enjoyed remarkable growth in recent years. Over the past five years, the DTH customer base in the region has grown by 300% from 12 million subscribers in 2006 to 49 million in 2011. In India alone, there are now six DTH operators with an estimated 30 million subscribers.