The Mitsubishi
Monitor talks with Teruhiko Ena, president of Space
Communications Corporation.
|
 |
The president gives us a
look at scale models of launch vehicles and of one
of his company's satellites. |
|
Your
company is one of only two Japan-based enterprises that
operate communications satellites. Founded 16 years ago,
Space Communications now has four Superbird satellites in
service. But the company has received even more attention
recently for ventures in promoting new kinds of content
for satellite communications.
Our fundamental business consists of providing infrastructure
for telecommunications. We buy satellites, purchase launch
services to put them into orbit, operate the satellites
from our own control centers, and sell portions of their
communications capacity to customers.
The customers use their bandwidth allotments
to provide various kinds of services. Television broadcasters,
for example, use our satellites to provide their viewers
with realtime reportage of breaking news. Government agencies,
in another example, use satellite links to ensure reliable
emergency communications.
In that sense, we are a wholesaler of
communications capacity. We don't interact directly with
end users in our core business. However, we have developed
services directed toward end users in recent years to promote
satellite communications and raise our capacity utilization
rates.
What kinds of services?
Our best-established service for end users is DirecPC, which
we offer in cooperation with Hughes Network Systems, of
the United States. Corporate subscribers use DirecPC links
through our satellites to connect more than 20,000 terminals
throughout Japan. DirecPC provides an information "backbone"
for companies that need to distribute information frequently
and simultaneously to several branches, offices, plants,
and other operations.
That's a
pretty big customer base. Do you see potential for expanding
it further?
Yes, we
see a lot of potential for growth. And when the service
becomes consistently profitable, we will spin it off. |
|
Why would you spin off a promising business?
A promising business deserves the full attention
of management on its own corporate platform. Spinning off
DirecPC would provide its management team with entrepreneurial
motivation to make the most of the service.
What other services
are you preparing for end users?
We and Mitsubishi Corporation have set up a joint venture
with Tthrough broadband multicasts. That venture, called Hit Pops,okyo Electric to provide entertainment and other content delivers
content to cable television stations throughout
Japan via satellite |
links. The stations furnish the content
to individuals through the cable connections.
In another venture, we and Mitsubishi
Corporation have set up a company with a leading cable television
operator to provide digital TV programs to cable television
stations. The company will reduce the need for the stations
to invest in expensive equipment to digitize program content.
It also will expand the stations' revenue potential and
raise their capacity utilization rates by increasing the
number of programs that they can offer. Cable television
subscribers, of course, will welcome the the broadened range
of viewing options.
Your
company has come a long way over the past 16 years.
Yes, we got off to a rocky start. We
lost one satellite with a launch that went awry and another
when an in-orbit anomaly occurred. So we had accumulated
some pretty hefty losses before we even really began.
My top priority when I became president
here more than six years ago was to make the company profitable
and eliminate our accumulated losses. Thanks to a lot of
hard work by everyone, our business has progressed steadily.
And we were proud to erase the last of the red ink from
our balance sheet in 2001. The company now has a clean slate
to pursue profitable growth in the years ahead.
Your services are
primarily for the Japanese domestic market, aren't they?
Satellite communications have become
a mainly domestic business in most nations. Undersea cables
now provide reliable and inexpensive connections for international
communications. We would be interested in providing services
in other Asian nations. But the orbital slots suitable for
commercial operators are nearly all taken. So any geographical
expansion would need to be through alliances or acquisitions..
Although your services
are mainly domestic, your purchasing is very international.
We have purchased all of our satellites
so far from U.S. suppliers and all of our launch services
from European and U.S. suppliers. Each purchasing decision,
however, is purely on the basis of business considerations.
Our purchasing is completely open to suppliers of any nationality,
including Japanese. |
|
|
