This study focuses on the 292 commercial communications satellites in current operation that have transponders in C-Band, Ku-Band, and Ka-Band. Satellite operators have announced plans to launch more than 90 new satellites over the next five years.  Because the majority of new satellite launches will be to replace retiring satellites, the number of satellites in orbit will only increase slightly over the forecast period of 2011 to 2017.  However, these new satellites have many times more transponders than the satellites they are replacing, so the number of transponders in orbit will nearly triple between 2010 to 2017. The current 292 satellites host 12,014 transponders in C, Ku, and Ka-Bands.