Title: WorldSpace Southern Africa Pty Ltd.
1WorldSpace (Southern Africa) (Pty) Ltd.
- Presentation to Select Committee on Labour
Public Enterprises National Council of
Provinces (NCOP) - 29th November 2005
2Panel
- Hamza Farooqui Managing Director Afristar
Region - Jim Myers Regulatory Consultant
- Janet Mackenzie Cliffe Dekker Inc
3Contents
- Section 1 Introduction to WorldSpace and its
satellite radio service - Section 2 Key regulatory considerations
- Existing rights of WorldSpace
- Treatment of permissions under ECB
- Effect of exclusions
- Suggested Amendments
-
Section 3 Commercial rationale and conclusion
4Introduction to WorldSpace and its satellite
radio service
SECTION 1
5WorldSpace System is the only
constellation of digital satellites capable of
transmitting digital audio radio services
directly to an enormous global audience
- Digital satellite radio system with
multi-continental coverage - Footprints cover an estimated 5 billion people
- Provides a total of up to 480 channels of digital
quality programming - Digital processing on-board the satellites allows
radio programming to originate from anywhere
6WorldSpace - A satellite radio company
- WorldSpace founded the Satellite radio industry
in 1990 and was the first to design implement
the technology to deliver satellite radio
services - Satellite radio in the US has experienced
tremendous growth over the past two years - only
DVD players reached the 1 million sales mark
faster - XM and Sirius Satellite Radio launched service in
late 2001 and early 2002, respectively, and now
serve approximately 8 million subscribers in
North America - Satellite radio is by far the most exciting
technology product that has been introduced to a
global market - WorldSpace has successfully completed the ITU
coordination process for the use of the L-Band
spectrum for satellite radio services in all
markets outside of the US
WorldSpace is the only company providing digital
satellite radio services outside of the US
7Major WorldSpace milestones
- 1990 Company founded by Noah
Samara - - Vision of enabling information affluence in
emerging markets - - Confluence of huge demand, revolutionary
personalized satellite technology and emerging - regulatory receptiveness
- 1991 - 92 Began national licensing process
for satellite system - 1992 At 1992 ITU Radio
communication Conference, gained global
allocation of spectrum for satellite
complementary terrestrial radio services - 1992 - 95 Developed technology, business
plan started ITU coordination process - 1995 - 96 Established consortium of
industrial and financial partners - 1996 - 97 Satellite construction underway
chipsets and receiver development - 1997 - 98 Built organization and prepared
to launch - 1999 - 2000 Launched commercial service for
portable fixed reception - 2000 - Present - Conducted 1st ever
demonstrations of satellite repeater technology
developed software-based chipset for service
to vehicles - - WorldSpace-licensed technology brought into
commercial use in the USA by XM Satellite
Radio - - Listed on NASDAQ in August 2005
8WorldSpace executive summary
- Unsurpassed content and distribution
- Global content, 24x7 basis
- Regional, voice from home content, by language
- News, music formats on a nationwide basis
- Ability to uplink content anywhere, anytime,
throughout the coverage area - Up to 80 digital quality channels for home, car
or portable reception - Initial focus on major markets in China, India,
the Middle East, South Africa and France - Total coverage area has 5 billion people, 300
million cars - Regulatory status
- AfriStar and AsiaStar completed ITU coordination
and notification process - Complementary gap filler licensing and
coordination process commenced in key markets - Proven, easy-to-use, low-cost technology
- Over US1.4 billion already invested to create
infrastructure - Low-cost, compact receive terminals are easy to
set up and use anywhere - One-to-many, scalable, addressable and
encryptable digital sound service, allows
cost-efficient delivery system
9Current Status South Africa
- Johannesburg regional operations in existence
since 1998 - Johannesburg uplink in existence since 1998
- Corporate responsibility sponsored the building
of a school in Orange Farm (Freedom Park
Primary), sponsored the ODL (Open Distance
Learning) conference All Africa Ministers
Conference in Cape Town - Free-to-air service launched in 1999, with 40,000
receivers currently in Southern Africa - Regulatory environment broadcasting and signal
distribution licensing applied for, and ICASA in
the process of licensing satellite broadcast
services in terms of sections 4 34 of the
Broadcasting Act - 82 key retailers in Johannesburg, Cape Town,
Durban, Pretoria, Port Elizabeth and East London,
together in partnership with Elsat - Mobile (in-car) satellite radio service
introduction planned for 2006
10Key regulatory issues to be addressed
SECTION 2
11Existing rights of WorldSpace
- WorldSpace (Southern Africa) (Pty) Ltd. is
controlled by WorldSpace, Inc., a US company - Permission to provide a satellite broadcasting
service S4(1)(a) of the Broadcasting Act - Permission to provide channels in respect of a
broadcasting service S4(5)(a) of the
Broadcasting Act - Permission to provide a broadcasting signal
distribution service S34(1)(a) of the
Broadcasting Act - ICASA was to put into place the regulatory
framework for subscription broadcasting services
before converting permissions into licences and
has been busy with this process since March 2003
12Treatment of permissions under ECB
- S92(5) of the ECB safeguards existing rights
under the Telecommunications Act, Broadcasting
Act and IBA Act - Persons who have been granted permissions under
existing legislation will not be licensed in
terms of the transitional provisions of Chapter
15 of the ECB - Permission holders will have to be licensed in
terms of Chapter 3 of the ECB
13Effects of the exclusion
- Permission holders will be subject to a different
licensing process to all other entities currently
providing services under existing legislation - Permission holders will be subject to licensing
processes and licensing terms and conditions
which are potentially more onerous - Permission holders are likely to be faced with
licensing delays - In some instances, a deprivation of rights may
occur (i.e. where an individual communications
network service licence is required for a
broadcasting signal distribution service) - Permission holders will not be able to make use
of broadcasting signal distributors until they
are licensed S62(2)(b) of the ECB - Permission holders will not be able to
interconnect their services until they are
licensed S37(1) of the ECB - Permission holders will not be able to enter into
facilities leasing arrangements until they are
licensed S43(1) of the ECB - The effect of the ECB is to unconstitutionally
nullify and deprive permission holders of their
existing rights
14Suggested amendments
- Reference must be made to permissions and
permission holders rights granted under the
Broadcasting Act in - - Section 92 (5),(6)
- - Section 93 (1) (11)
- - Section 62 (2) (b)
- Detailed amendments have been provided in our
written submission to the NCOP -
15Commercial rationale and conclusion
SECTION 3
16Commercial rationale and conclusion
- WorldSpace satellite infrastructure covers
Europe, middle East, Africa and Asia. - Relationship with XM satellite Radio brings best
of breed technology, products and services - WorldSpace four channels to XM and distributes
over 70 channels in its own network - XM which uses WorldSpace technology have
distribution partnerships with General Motors,
Honda, Toyota, Hyundai, Nissan, VW/Audi, Porsche,
Kia, Suburu and Suzuki. - Subscription take up rates indicate that by the
end of 2005, subscriber numbers should exceed 6
million.
17Commercial rationale and conclusion
- WorldSpace invests in local countries through
- - physical infrastructure facilitating up and
down links - - offices providing sales, marketing and
maintenance support - - staff and facilities for adding local content
to channels for global distribution - - creating on the ground skills transfer and
development - WorldSpace offers local country artists and
personalities global exposure - - Satellite radio is credited with much of the
responsibility for the popularity of Latin
American music in North America - - Facilitate the niche music category creation,
distribution and popularity - WorldSpace recently announced a US150 million
investment in India to grow presence in that
market - WorldSpace requires the basic infrastructure
previously described to provide this service,
together with a stable and predictable regulatory
framework
18Commercial rationale and conclusion
- Foreign investment
- Job creation
- Global exposure for South African artists and
personalities that could not be achieved in any
other manner - Additional revenue for the government through
revenue generated locally from subscription
services - Build up and rollout of cutting edge technology
in a country, together with inter-related
industries such as automobile sector with
substantial value add opportunity - In conclusion, WorldSpace seeks the assistance
and support of this body to assure these
opportunities become reality in South Africa.
19Thank you
20Questions and Answers