Ths document s downloaded from DR-NTU, Nanyang Technologcal Unversty Lbrary, Sngapore. Ttle Impact of broadcast satelltes on rural development n Malaysa Author(s) Radz Mansor Ctaton Mansor, R. (99). Impact of broadcast satelltes on rural development n Malaysa. In AMIC-DEPPEN Semnar on the Soco-economc Impact of Broadcast Satelltes n the Asa-Pacfc Regon : Jakarta, Jul 25-27, 99. Sngapore: Asan Mass Communcaton Research & Informaton Centre. Date 99 URL http://hdl.handle.net/22/275 Rghts
Impact Of Broadcast Satelltes On Rural Development In Malaysa By Radz Mansor I Paper No.8
IMPACT OF BROALX:AST SATELLITES ON RURAL DEVELOPMENT IN MALAYSIA' By: M. RADZI MANSOR Syarkat Telekom Malaysa (STM) SYNOPSIS Ths Paper presents some veus of th«> prncpal lelecommuncaton c >m\ any of Malaysa (STM; on thf? apt lcaton o satellte comrun cat.on systems for nat >na t el econmuncat on nctuork nfrastructure and ts mpact on.l development. :>ate.llt( broadcastng, beng one of h" fvk ltes avalable fron th<' system, s ncluded n t h< defnton of satellte commur cat on. It traces th<: development of and dscusse;- the current praclct: and sutablty o' satellte ad terrestral systems lor * ~«v *_; rado and t e Ire *.on broadcast ag sgn.l:-- : : an.'!,' >.;; -nd env Le aea.:-. I'll,', *ospe t s ul l- e\.. M. K e I e O [ Y\ RO MJII>>: and «> h.'o;,h s : S J. e : t ; 'I s n c _.- -* ement ae e: : \: nv terrestral system.- ; _a :at; >n,... S.n and Iv 'roadc a*?t no coverage are also exe..
IP... INTRODUCTION Malaysa entered the satellte communcaton era n Aprl 97 when the frst satellte earth staton at Kuantan on the East coast of Pennsular Malaysa was commssoned. Ths- staton provded drect nternatonal telecommuncaton lnks va the INTELSAT Pacfc Ocean Regonal (POR) satellte to the rest of the world and was the frst satellte earth staton n the South East Asan regon. Though prmarly caterng for telecommuncaton requrements, the staton also provded facltes for drect Telecasts + rom overseas countres. After 2 y uars, STM - a company lcensed by t te Government of Malaysa to provde and operate natonal cne, nternatonal telecommuncat on servces - nou operates an extensve satellte commun cat < MI netw r. comprsng n total or 2? satellte earth sta ons of whch 5 are r. ernat loaa and f are domestc statons. wth antenna ssc; rangng from met '. es to V-2 metres n dameter. These satellte earth statons provde nternal ona] and dome st: < e'u p! :>, te. rx, data and televson relay servce--. Malaysa presently us* > POM Satellte va the Kuartan Earth sta; m t - t;. traffc to Unted St t.es. Canada and.japan, ard the Indan Ocean Regon
(I OK satellte ve he Melaka Earth Staton to read, countres n Europe, Inda and the Mddle East. Some 65% of the total overseas traffc s handled over these sat el lt* lnks, even though great nterest has been shoun n submarne cable systems. To satsfy the requrements of multnatonal companes and large corporatons for pont-to-pont drect hgh speed dgtal lnks. ' STM has ntroduced the Intelsat Busness Servce (IBS) va Standard F-2 earth statons (8.m antenna) whch served as teleport statons for ndustral and free-trade zones. The frst IBS staton was commssoned,->. Penang n September 988 and the second at Kuala Lumpur n March 989. Addtonal antennas are beng planned for other areas, STM presently operates a farly extensve domestc satellte communcatons network to provde for () TV and telephone lnks between Pennsular Malaysa and the Eastern states of Sahah and Sarawak; () communcaton requrements of off-shore olplatforms and remote areas; ) m t ed t el ephene and TV" rest ora t on f.^c \ I t v.
The domestc satellte network has grown steadly snce, August 975 when the frst domestc satellte lnk was establshed between Kuantan and Kota Knabnlu va INTELSAT POP Satellte to carry the natonal TV channel.» Malaysa became the frst ASEAN member country to use the Indonesan PALAFA satellte for TV dstrbuton u'hen two more earth statons (m. antennas) were commssoned n August 983. Uth both INTELSAT and PALAPA satellte systems, we are able to extend three TV networks from Pennsular Malaysa to the eastern states of Sahnh and Sarawak, thus accomplshng natonwde ov. tape. Tu'o of the TV networks use the PALAPA satellte whlst the other uses INTELSAT satellte. A number of sma.' satellte statons; (4. 5n.m belou. for datt. r ce'»-»3 oe *, for use by news agences to receve toepn neus va INTELSAT lntelnet set vce were launched n 9^9. Durng the frst half of 99 a number o TVHO statons wve commssoned for TV recepton purpose. ' 4
jm.6. Broadcastng servces n Malaysa are provded by (a) a Government Agency, Rado Televson Malaysa (RTM), on two TV channels (TV and TV2), an Educatonal TV channel and 4 rado channels; (b) a publc-lsted company, Sstem Televson Malaysa (STMB) whch operates the thrd channel TV3; (c) Redffuson Malaysa, a prvate; company lcenced for wred sound broadcastng. The prvate companes operate under the regulatory auspces of the Mnstry of Informaton and Broadcastng where program contents are concerned but are lcensed under the provsons of the Telecommuncatons Act on frequency allocaton and techncal matters. STM relays the rado and TV sgnals on ts network or terrestral and satellte lnk;- natonwde and mantans most of the transmtters. However, RTM also operates ts own TVRO statons n Kuala' Lumpur. STM coordnates and arranges for occasonal domestc and nternatonal telecasts. Save for a few exceptons, Malaysa has not adopted a: "open skes" polcy on broadcastng vet.
SATELLITE COMMUNICATION AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT Snce the launchng o PALPPA-A satellte n 9b as» Asa's frst domestc satellte system, there are nou several such systems n the regon, lke Arabsat, Aussat, Insat and the latest prvate system AsaSat launched nto orbt last Aprl 99, uhose co<-<'rage overlaps almost half of PALAPA' s. Other systems that have already. been fled n uth the Internatonal Frequency Regstraton Eoard ( IFRB) nclude Pacstar, Tongasat ard Chnasat uhch u'll operate n the same regon. It u uld an.-car that n the nea future there a' t e qute a feu transponders avalable f r; m these systems after meetng the respectve natonal requ rements t >r telecommuncaton and broadcastng servces. U'th rapd advances n satellte and eart!: staton technologes, t s hoped that the cost o transponders and sta on equpment ul be reduced drastcally so as t make satellte comrnun cat n.n vable for extendng better telecommuncaton and broadcastng servces to remote rural areas n the Asan regon. Malaysa currently leases tu'o full TV transponders on PALAPA-B2 satellte for TV and TV3, and another quarter (9MHz> transponder for Sngle Channel Per 6
Carrer (SCPC) telephone communcaton to ol platforms and remote rural areas, ncludng TV'RO faclty. An occasonal use TV transponder s also on lease for relayng sports program. The benefts of usng a satellte communcaton system to provde telecommuncaton sen \ r.c and TV broadcast to remote areas are realzed at Belaga and Long Lama n Sarawak. Belaga s a rural townshp wth a populaton of about 7 stuated n the nteror of Sarawak about 3km up the Rajang rver from the man toun of Sbu or.6km from the nearest tarn of Kapt Owng to the mountanous terran of the area, access to Belaga s only possble by ar or rver transport. A lght arcraft ar servce s operated twce a week subject to weather condton. The other access by boat takes about 8 hours from Kapt. Provson of telecommuncaton servce was extremely dffcult Vew of ts dstance from the nearest centre n Kapt. Terrestral lne of eght rado communcaton would requre settng v.p of repeater statons n rugged terran wth no easy access. Pror to 98*, Belaga was served by HF Rado Call Servce. The SCPC Earth Staton workng to PALAPA satellte was establshed n 985 to provde hgh qualty and relable telecommuncaton lnk fo a 3 lne automatc exchange servng L42 telephone n
subscrbers currently thus lnkng them to the rent of Sarauak, Malaysa and the'uorld. A TVRO and TVRO rebroadcaster uas added n 988 and leased to RTM for broadcastng TV. The TV rebroadcaster uses the earth staton as a recever to relay TV program Horn Kuala Lumpur and serves about 2 TV sets nou/. Smlarly, Long Lama s a rural tounshp U'th a populaton of about. 2 stuated 6km up the Baram rver and only accessble by rver. The boat trp to the nest nearest t OUTI of Marud lakes about 3 hoars. A 4k; road lnkng Long Lama to the man town of Mr s nou beng constructed. The earth staton ua, set up n 985 to lnk a 2-lne automatc exchange over SCPC channels va PALAPA satellte to the man exchange at Lmbang. Currently there are telephone subscrbers n Long Lama. Snce normal T v recepton s not possble, a TVRO and TV rebroadcaster solut >r \ s beng consdered. The perennal probl-em of Governments o developng countres n provdng communcaton facltes to rural areas les n the remoteness of these areas whch are thnly populated and wdely scattered often over dffcult terran. Telephone, rado and TV broadcast uould be the lfe lne and nformaton 8
channel for the rural populaton. Satellte technology s already here to provde the soluton and t becomes a queston of allocaton of fnancal resources to brng about development to the rural areas. In ths respect, Malaysa s puttng greater emphass on rural development n order to reduce urban mgraton and encourages cottage ndustres as u/ell as other productve efforts n farmng and handcrafts. STM's present combnaton of domestc satellte: communcaton system and the extensve terrestral trunk telecommuncaton network s able to provde RTM and TV3 wth TV bearers to reach some 75% of the Malaysan populaton, most of whom are n the urban and suburban areas. Ths network s showt n Fgure. However, consderng that some 64% of the 7.6 mllon populaton of Malaysa are n the rural areas, postve steps must be taken to provde better rado and TV coverage to these areas n order to acheve full natonal coverage. TVRO rebroadcast ny and pocket-fllng transmtters are benq consdered for the remanng remote and rural areas. Extenson of the telecommuncaton network to the rural areas has been put on prorty n the next 5- )
year Sxth Malaysa Plan (99-995) as STM has already provded suffcent network capacty n the urban areas. Some Malaysan $.4 bllon (US$5 mllon) has been budgetted for rural telecommuncaton development, that s an average of US$ mllon u/ be spent annually to brng better telecommuncaton servce to all vlla^os. estates and rural communty n general. 2.8. Wth the abovvment oned plans for developng telecommuncaton and broadcastng servces n the rural areas, t may be. prudent at ths juncture to compare a couple ndcators that could possbly reflect the soco-economc development stage of a country. The two ndcators, each could be regarded as a measure of penetraton of the servce, are :- () the number of TV sets/ populaton; () the number of man telephone lnes/ f populaton. The two ndcators for countres n ths regon are lsted n Table. It s nterestng to note that for the frst fve countres wth more developed economes, the telephone penetraton exceeds the TV penetraton. Ths relatonshp appears to be
generally true because as a country's economy develops, the telephone becomes affordable and easly avalable to more people who now have a greater need for nteractve communcaton ether commercally or socallv. However, there udll stll be dsparty n the dstrbuton of telephones betu/een rural and urban "reas. In the case of Malaysa -3% of man telephone lnes are n the rural areas, servng 64% of the populaton, whle 86% of the lnes are n the urban areas servng 36% of the populaton. The average penetraton of 7.4 man lnes per IOC' populaton s n turn dstrbuted at.8 lnes/ populaton n rural areas as opposed to 9.3 lnes/ populaton n the urban areas. Such dsparty, whch could well apply n the dstrbuton of TV sets between rural and urban households, would need to be rectfed and consdered n the overall natonal development plan. PROSPECTS FOR BROADCAST SATELLITES Satellte communcatons has no doubt played a key role n natonal ntegraton, provdng effectve and relable medum for broadcastng entertanment and news programs as well as delverng educaton programs and health care servces. It has tremendous
potental to enhance natonal publc telecommuncaton and broadcastng servce, domestcally as well as regonally. In vew of more satellte systems becomng avalable n the regon U'thn the next feu' years more transponders would be avalable for telecommuncatons and broadcastng. Accordng to present record on PALAPA's transponder utlzaton (Table 2) more than half the total avalable transponders are used for telecommuncaton purposes and 3 transponders are allocated for TV broadcastng. If the PALAPA system were to develop nto a regonal system wthn the next ten years, some 3 transponders are forecast to be avalable for TV broadcastng and 32 transponders for <-oce telephony (Table 3). Such system capacty ull be suffcent to meet domestc and regonal communcaton requrements especally to rural areas. The successful launchng of Asa's frst commercal satellte, Asa Sat-I recently adds a new dmenson to Asan telecommuncaton and televson broadcastng scene. The mpact on ths regon could be mmense as Asa Sat's footprnt covers the world's hghest populaton area wth some 2.5 bllon potental TV vewers and ownng an estmated.4 2
mllon TVRO statons manly n Japan and Indonesa. Once fully operatonal, expected to be n September 99, Asa Sat u-ould carry a dozen new TV channels wth programs rangng from moves, sports, news and muscal vdeo. Interest n such programs would stll be n urban areas, f there s no restrcton on prvate recepton of TV programs through TVRO statons. Whether such programs are sutable and acceptable to the dverse ethnc groups wthn the regon tself s yet to be tested. In the case of rural areas the communty may not even afford to gan access to such programs. Satellte communcatons wll evolve wthn the framework of the evoluton of overall telecommuncatons, and wll be nfluenced by:- (a) the progress of deregulaton; (b) the speed of expanson of hgh capactv terrestral systems such as dgtal mcrowaves and opt ca bre cables; (c) the rate of amortzaton of prevous nvestments, and 3
(d) the soluton cf launcher problems. Neu' generaton satelltes would also ncorporate Drect Broadcast capabltes (DBS) wth possble ntroducton of lgh L>efnton Televson (HDTV) transm sson. DBS s a farlv recent development and has only been ntroduced n countres wth farlv szeable domestc populaton wth hgh per capta ncome, such as Japan, Unted States and Europe. DBS busness s rsky, characterzed by very hgh fxed cost u/hch remans unchanged regardless whether pe.pc or mllon watch the programmes broadcast drect from the satellte nto the house or offce. The development and acceptance of DBS servce has been slow except n Japan, followng the launch of ts DBS satellte n 986. The servce, run bv NMK. now has more than one mllon subscrbers ->ut of ; total 39.5 mllon TV households. In Brtan. Sky Televson has been beamng four DBS channels bu only about 9. satellte dshes have been bought wth another 5, houses recevng Sky Televson by cable. 4
# 4. CONCLUSION 4.. Telecommuncat von and broadcast nq servce^ nw undergong very rapd change brought about by neu technologes n electroncs, commun cator ard computer ndustres. Broadcast satelltes would appec to be the deal soluton n provdng total TV coverage and achevng hgh penetraton n both urban and rural areas of developng and developed countres. However, the economcs of delverng the programs through TV'RO, DBS or conventonal terrestral means, and the af fordab ty of as well as acceptance by the rural populaton ull have to be examned more closely n determnng whch opton s most sutable. 4.2. Takng the Malaysan experence wth her extensve and well-developed terrestral mcrowave trunk telecommuncaton network complemented by don^stc satellte lnks. TV transmsson has reached 75% of the populaton. The terrestral system wll be mantaned as the prmary network for relayng TV sgnals throughout the country and TVHO ull be used for pocket fllng n locatons where terrestral systems become cost prohbtve or mpractcal. The qualty, relablty and securty of ths network has been mantaned at a hgh level. 5
Drect TV broadcastng from satelltes (DBS) s stll n ts nfancy n ths regon compared to TVRO and has not proven to be vable yet for the rural areas. The hgh ntal cost of subscrbng to the DBS system and the generally lou ncome level ol tnrural populaton puts conventonal TV broadcast stll ahead of DBS. It should be> borne n mnd that for subscrbers, DBS s only a technology uhch provdes an alternatve means of brngng lve TV programmes nto the house. A possble combnaton uould be DBS and cable TV dstrbuton n urban areas wth TVRO and rebroadcaster n the rural areas. The correct choce of present and future technologes n satellte communcat on systems u brng about a profound mpact on rural development. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I a'sh to record my thanks to the Asan Muss Commun cat on Research and.informaton Cent ^ and tn- Department p Informaton, Government of Indonesa for est endng ther nvtaton for me to partcpate n ths semna and to present ths paper. The assstance of my colleagues n STM are duly acknowledged as well as the use of the nformaton contaned n publcatons referred n ths paper. 6
TABLE - TELEPHONE AND TELEVISION PENETRATION COUNTRY POPULATION (Mllon) TOTAL TV SETS (Mllon) TV SET/ POP. TOTAL TEL. MAIN LINES (Mllon) TEL./ POP... AUSTRALIA 6. 9 7.3 43 7.4 44. 9 HONGKONG 5.8.7 29 2.2 38.6 JAPAN 23.6 3.7 26 5. 4.7 SOUTH KOREA 4 2.3. 24. 5 25 SINGAPORE 2.7.5 9.9 35.4 MALAYSIA 7.6 2.4 4.3 7.4 THAILAND 56.2 5.6..8 PHILIPPINES 6.8 4. 7.6. INDONESIA 78.8 9.4 5.8.5 INDIA 82. 24 3 4.2.5 SOURCE: ASIAWEEK -EB/MAC 99 INTERNATIONAL TELECOM STATISTICS - SIEMENS 99
P VIII BROADCAST SATELLITES AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT BY M. RADZI MANSOR DIRECTOR MARKETING AND CUSTOM SERVICES SYARIKAT TELECOM MALAYSIA SEMINAR ON SOCIO-ECO.VOMIC IMPACT OF BROADCAST SATELLITES IN THE ASIA-PACIFIC REGION JAKARTA. INDONESIA, 25 27 JULY 99 DEPPE-N RI- AMIC
A TABLE 2 - PALAPA TRANSPONDER UTILIZATION, YR 99 DOMESTIC' USE I COUNTRY DATA VOICE! I TV TOTAL INDONESIA 8 2 2 MALAYSIA.5 2 2.5 THAILAND PHILIPPINES PAPUA NEW GUINEA 5. 5 2.5 3.5 3! VIETNAM o.5 o.s ' NORTH AUSTRALIA 2 2 HONGKONG OCCASIONAL 2 2 2 2 BACK-UP TOTAL L :] 2-.5 3 4.5 SOURCE SAHALA SILALAHI PALAPA SATELLITE SYSTEM - TODAY AND TOMORROW
TJA TABLE 3 - PALAPA TRANSPONDER REQUIREMENT. YR 2 COUNTRY - DATA DOMESTIC VOICE TV T ( REGIONAL TOTAL INDONESIA -4 2 4 2 3 MALAYSIA.5 \ j 3 ; 5.5 T TP I LAND CHI I J FTINKS 2 o A 3! I 3! J ') BRINE DARUSSALAM. 5. 5 PAFUA NEW GUINEA (.5. 5 VIETNAM.5 o r, MYANMAR L AOS ( '. 5.5. 5 - L. r. n OAMHOPl.A.5.5 o NORTH AUSTRALIA 3 3 HONGKONG - 3 6 OCCASIONAL 4 BACK-UP - ~ 2') TOTAL [..., " - - -j 32 3 Q \ o-. r SOURCE SAHALA SALALAHI PALAPA SATELLITE SYSTEM - TODAY AND TOMORROW
TELEVISION NETWORK IN MALAYSIA FIGURE