Joining

Since its launch in 1998, GVF has invested tremendous resources to promote the satellite communications industry's interests worldwide. Accordingly, GVF Membership was established to provide the industry's leading organisations with a profile and level of influence commensurate with their standing in the marketplace.

Your organisation will be provided with a wide range of services, including the following benefits provided exclusively to GVF Members:

Sales & Marketing

Throughout the entire year, GVF provides Member companies with a high level of global exposure to customers across multiple well-established industry promotional platforms: 

Online Customer Access

GVF Members take full advantage of the GVF website's outstanding position. GVF Member visibility is optimized online through:

• A company profile in the GVF Member Directory - the site's #1 most visited section;
• Selection criteria in the Online Member Directory's interactive search tool;
• Eligibility to post case studies in "Solutions", a section developed to put end users from key vertical markets in direct contact with GVF Members;

Market Intelligence

As a result of customer hits from gvf.org and supplemented by end-user participation in GVF events activities worldwide (also see below) GVF generates market intelligence which appears in the GVF Bulletin. Reports on valuable sales and marketing opportunities include:

• Cutting-edge intelligence on commercial satellite communications developments in national, regional, vertical and horizontal markets worldwide;
• Maximum-level discounts on conferences & exhibitions, legal, consulting, publishing (see also below), and other satellite industry services; and
• Strategic calendar of GVF-supported events worldwide, where Members can select event platforms where they want speaking and/or sponsorship visibility.

Branding at Events Worldwide

GVF coordinates some type of industry event activity somewhere in the world once every 1-2 weeks. GVF Members gain free or discounted access to and eligibility to speak at conferences, summits, workshops and seminars in every major region of the world, all year, every year. This provides an unparalleled opportunity to network with customers, strategic allies, partners, reps, distributors, integrators, and a host of other key contacts.

Further, GVF Members are entitled to secure high-level sponsorship opportunities that strengthen the corporate brand in conjunction with key events, all of which are provided to Members at top-level discounts worth thousands of Euros, Dollars, Yen, Renminbi, Rand, Pesos, Rubles, Pounds, etc. Among many other events, these GVF-co-ordinated programmes include event platforms for key vertical markets:

• Oil & Gas
• Military
• Mobility and Broadband
• Disaster Recovery/Emergency Response
• Maritime
• Managed Services
• Mining
• Health
• Education
• And more. 

Premier Publishing Visibility

The GVF Directory & Satellite Resource Guide has been published every year since 2000 and has come to be regarded by satellite communications customers as an essential purchasing tool for satcom customers. (For example, certain government purchasing offices now use the GVF Directory as an internal reference for acquisitions.) The GVF Directory serves as a print and CD-ROM companion to the above-noted electronic and events-based promotions.

About 10,000 copies are distributed each year. Extensive bonus distribution of the Directory is carried out globally by the GVF Secretariat and its nearly 20 regional representatives throughout the world. The bonus distribution which is via the above-noted events and dozens of others is in addition to the copies that are mailed and delivered electronically to satellite communications customers.

Included in the four colour, glossy format are case studies on a variety of vertical-market applications and a global events wall calendar, as well as the Membership listings, which are used by potential customers as a buyer's guide.

To view the latest GVF Directory & Satellite Resource Guide, visit this link.

Influence, Leadership & Prestige

The second category of benefits provided to GVF Members is more difficult to quantify, yet a strong argument can be made that they are even more valuable to each individual GVF Member. These benefits include the following:

Outsourced Advocacy:

On behalf of the Members, the GVF constantly works with regulatory, ministerial and presidential administrations throughout the world to improve operating conditions and to expand market access for the satellite industry. GVF Members have direct influence in determining market-access and other regulatory priorities undertaken by GVF worldwide.

In the past, this has translated directly into:

• Multi-million-dollar contracts for individual members;
• Issuance of service licenses, in many cases, the first-ever competitive satellite licenses issued by the government;
• Lower fees, e.g. customs duties, homologation charges, license fees, etc.;
• Prevention of implementation of regulations that would have an adverse impact on satellite system and/or service provision;
• Preservation of spectrum for use by the satellite industry (such as the battles for C-band and Ku-band underway worldwide);
• And more.

Leadership:

The present and future direction of GVF is driven largely by the Members. Only GVF Members are eligible to participate in working groups that develop solutions to a wide variety of commercial, technical, training, regulatory and other industry challenges. The GVF Working Groups serve as a GVF Brain Trust, guiding and shaping the direction and focus of the association and, thus, the industry.

Global Prestige:

GVF Members are seen worldwide as standing among the elite of the industry's leading players. The GVF is recognized internationally as the pre-eminent global satellite-industry association, and the association's strong reputation accrues to the interest of Members who are seen, rightfully, as global leaders. For this reason, by far most of the satellite industry's market leaders are counted among the GVF Members.