Hunter Communications

Satellite Bandwidth

Procurement. Hunter provides legal and commercial negotiation services on behalf of our clients. Hunter currently has approximately 1000 MHz under direct contract which we provide to our clients. In addition, Hunter has several clients for whom we provide negotiation services on their behalf to procure large volumes of capacity, representing an additional ~4000 MHz. Our typical scenario involves us working with a client on a particular project or bid, to analyze the right satellite options and technology and then working to make that bid the most efficient and cost-effective possible. Rather than the typical situation of an operator looking to sell a particular portion of segment that is in its best-interest, Hunter looks at all options to find the best fit for technical, regulatory and cost concerns. We only win if our clients do, which puts our interests in direct alignment with our clients'.

Bandwidth analysis, optimization and long-term planning. For many in the satellite industry, the cost of satellite space is the single largest cost-component of their business. So a focus is critical for: a) squeezing the best costs for bandwidth, analyzing to ensure the most Mbps is achieved per $ spent, and optimizing networks to ensure that no small portion of bandwidth goes wasted. It is Hunter's raison d'être to work with a client by digging into all aspects of their network, technology, how the bandwidth is being used, under what terms and rates it is purchased - and then working on long-term plans to improve and squeeze costs down. Every single cost percentage reduced goes directly to our client's bottom line.

Availability. For many regions of the world, capacity availability has been a constant issue - not having enough capacity or having the "right" capacity limits the growth our clients can achieve. Yet much of the bandwidth sold by the operators is un-used or under-used. With network re-designs and optimization, Hunter has worked to free up capacity for use by other clients with a need. In this way we have been able to provide many transponders of capacity to clients, when the satellite operators themselves were either full or pricing their remaining capacity at premiums. Hunter maintains a significant availability listing of companies who either have excess satellite capacity, or can obtain excess through our assistance to optimize their networks.

Teleport Facilities

Hunter has a long history of selling services from teleports and serving our clients through them. Over the years, we have developed a few strong opinions that we believe serve our clients well:

Depending on the type of network our clients operate, the cost of teleport versus that of satellite bandwidth often only represents 5 to 10% of the monthly recurring costs. Yet for many, the difficulty in moving teleports can be equal or even far more painful than moving satellites. It is therefore critical to choose your teleport vendor carefully - as they will either become your long-term partner or a significant burden for years to come. There are obvious concerns to consider - UPS/generator, on-site 24x7 staff, redundant fiber, etc. But beyond that, it is also important to ensure that facilities have stable management, are well-financed, that the owners continually re-invest in the facility and training for its technical staff, and that it is profitable. Lastly, that the owner and its staff have a strong desire to make things happen for their clients.

In part for the reasons above, we believe in using independent teleport operators who fit the above criteria. It is important for a client to maintain their independence from any one operator, and so we believe that using an operator-owned teleport restricts the leverage a client has to ensure it can achieve the best negotiations for the long-term.

Hunter works with many teleport operators around the world, to ensure they can deliver on their promises, both now and for years to come.

For more information go to: www.huntercomm.net