Jacques Breton, senior vice president for sales and business development, told the media during a visit in Singapore last week that satellite demand in Asia-Pacific was very strong and important for his company, even though the global economy was now experiencing a slowdown, especially in China.

The Asia-Pacific region was a key market for the company, contributing significantly to a global market share for commercial launches exceeding 60 per cent, he said.

“Key supporting factors include traditional demand, which involves the evolution of quality in broadcasting service from today’s technology to 4K, and more advanced ones. Given this increasing demand, more data is required for transmission,” he explained.

Demand from the telecoms side is also expanding and strong, with the Internet and mobility playing a key role in today’s connectivity, particularly in rural areas, boats and aircraft, he added.

“For the near future, Indonesia is clearly a key market for us because of its population size. Meanwhile, this vast country still needs more connection among its islands,” the executive said.

This year alone, Arianespace plans to launch two satellites for PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI).

This will be another first for Arianespace, since BRI is the first bank in the world to purchase its own satellite.

BRIsat will provide enhanced secure banking communications for more than 10,600 operational branches, some 237,000 electronic-channel outlets and nearly 53 million customers across the Indonesian archipelago.

The satellite will be launched on board an Ariane 5 rocket from the Guiana Space Centre on June 8.

The company also has contracts to orbit another 11 satellites from Asia-Pacific customers, with a record number of six satellites planned in its 2016 manifest for five operators: Telkom Indonesia and BRI, India’s ISRO, Australia’s nbn and two for SKY Perfect JSAT in Japan.

Overall, more than 40 per cent of the payloads launched to geostationary transfer orbit by Arianespace this year will be Asia-Pacific satellites, he said.

Even though Thaicom is no longer Arianespace’s client, the executive of the European satellite launch service provider hopes his company will have a presence in Thailand again, particularly after the launch of its Ariane 6 launcher, which is in the design stage and is scheduled to be introduced by 2020.

Back in 1991, Shin Satellite became its first customer in Southeast Asia.

This year, Arianespace is considering kicking off its marketing campaign for Ariane 6 and another model of satellite launcher – the Vega-C – which is expected to be ready for inaugural flight in 2019, Breton said.

The establishment of Ariane 6 and Vega-C aims to further reduce the cost of access to space by 40 to 50 per cent compared to previous models, he said, adding that the new rocket launchers will also strengthen an ability to offer customised solutions to meet the specific demands of regional operators in all market segments.