In recent years, standardisation has proven to be one of the critical success factors in the introduction of new telecommunications systems and services. The recent success of systems like GSM mobile phones and digital video for professional and consumer video equipment is probably the best supporting evidence.
Standardisation brings enormous benefits to industry and users alike.
It is the single most important factor in economies of scale. It allows equipment manufacturers to focus on the same technical solution, thus providing a healthy and open competitive environment. ESA has always been a strong supporter of standardisation in the many fields of telecommunications. In recent years, the multimedia revolution has created a huge demand for high speed connections to the network. Satellite systems have been designed to respond to that demand.