Satellite operator SES had a ‘year of solid growth in 2008’ and i...

isn’t likely to fade, he said. SES recurring revenue rose 6 percent in 2008 to $2.1 billion, and recurring EBITDA was up almost 5 percent, Bausch said. The board proposed a 10 percent dividend increase, he said. “Recurring” EBITDA is meant to measure underlying revenue and operating cash flow by discounting for considerations like currency exchange fluctuations and one-time items, the company said. Revenue is expected to jump 7 percent this year, Bausch said. The global financial downturn won’t affect demand for satellite video transmission, Bausch said: Consumers aren’t cutting spending for satellite TV, so operators aren’t suffering. SES’s public service broadcast customers are also safe because they're mostly financed by governments, he said. Commercial TV channels, “obvious risk categories,” aren’t thinking of cutting satellite capacity essential to their business, Bausch said. And the U.S. and other governments are increasingly using commercial satellite capacity to meet their communications needs, he said. SES launched three satellites last year, Bausch said. Three more are to launch in 2009, which began Thursday with the orbiting by Arianespace of SES New Skies satellite NSS-9, the 40th spacecraft in the fleet, together with Eutelsat’s Hot Bird 10 satellite, he said. NSS-12 is scheduled to launch in Q3 and ASTRA Q4, Bausch said. Nine other satellites are in the pipeline, he said. SES’s joint venture with Eutelsat, Solaris Mobile, launches in March, offering video and data services for mobile handheld devices and automotive and transport infrastructure-related applications, Bausch said. Solaris will allow SES to move into satellite radio, but Bausch said there are so many big players looking to acquire the U.S. market that “we don’t think we should try to swim in that pond.” Seventy-nine percent of SES’s 855 transponders were in use at the end of 2008 and expansion is expected this year, Bausch said. Fueling strong demand for capacity, he said, are that: (1) Many SES customers in existing markets with established satellite TV are bringing in subscribers and adding channels. (2) New markets in Asia, Africa, Central and Eastern Europe and India are becoming satellite TV markets. (3) HDTV channels are increasing, adding demand for increased bandwidth.