After successful launch of Pak Satellite, China seeks to boost share of satellite market

BEIJING: After successful launch of Pakistan's communication satellite, China is actively exploring commercial opportunities to boost its share of the global satellite-launching market.

Since 2005, China has launched satellites for Nigeria, Venezuela, and Pakistan, and in April added Turkey, Argentina and Ecuador to its international roll call of clients, after sending three more satellites into orbit.

China Great Wall Industry Corp, a subsidiary of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp, is using this year's Paris Air Show to showcase its next generation of heavy-lifting rocket, the Long March 5, which is expected to be first launched in 2015, reports China Daily.

China Great Wall, the country's sole commercial provider of international launch services and satellite in-orbit delivery, is also using the event to demonstrate its Long March family of rockets, communication satellite platforms, and remote-sensing and meteorological satellites in the hope of attracting more potential international business, said Zhou Yuanying, the deputy general manager of the company's launch service division.

China launched 19 satellites last year, more than the US did for the first time.

The country aims to increase its market share in the global satellite-launching business to 15 percent by 2020, according to report of Xinhua News Agency. It currently has about 3 percent market share and its main clients are countries from Asia, Latin American and Africa.

Zhou said that China is basing its offering on a combination of high reliability and reasonable cost, but she admitted that it faces major obstacles in entering the US and European markets.

The US, for instance, has banned the export and transfer of satellites to China as well as the launching of satellites with US components in China, and analysts say the restrictions have helped reinforce the US' dominance of the sector.

The US generated revenue of $1.9 billion from launching services in 2011, accounting for 39 percent of the global market share, according to a report by the US Satellite Industry Association, quoted by the China Daily.

Europe accounted for 25 percent while Russia had 19 percent of the market.