The increasing power of communications satellites and the number of transponders available to consumers have been matched up with longer service lives. Iron- ically, this has decreased demand for commercial com- munications satellites even as that for satellite services has risen. Data compression technology also is serving to maximize the efficiency of transponders, which could drive production down. However, the considerable replacement market will push satellite orders up to an annual level of about 15 starting this year. This rate of production should hold steady for several years.
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