Interactive Satellite Today by Marisa Torrieri June 26, 2023
SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet constellation is driving industry rivals to elevate their 'A Game.' How satellite capacity and other factors could expand new business opportunities for satellite operators.
Within an impressively short three years, SpaceX has launched more than 4,000 satellites for its Starlink satellite network, blanketing Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) with a constellation that now serves 1.5 million-plus customers worldwide — and counting. This feverish growth is kindling fresh competition among satellite operators, as Starlink eyes markets traditionally held by incumbents.
Yet a slew of recent events — high-capacity satellite launches, operator alliances, mergers and acquisitions, satellite system evolutions, and fresh investments — have shown there are potentially as many opportunities as there are obstacles in the days ahead, as operators undergo operational pivots.
“If you get Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk interested in your sectors, you should expect a little bit of rattling of the cages, and it’s not a bad thing,” says Eva Berneke, CEO of Eutelsat. “Nobody’s asking themselves whether Starlink is working or whether constellations will work. It is really a business that is in a big transformation, being disrupted by a few key trends. If you look at it from a long-term perspective, space and satellite has been around and invested for a very long time.”
The rattling begs a few questions: How will operators stay viable and meet the demands of the future, given Starlink’s growing presence? What tactics and technologies will they utilize to thrive?
Via Satellite talked to leaders from five satcom operators — Viasat, SES, Hughes Network Systems, Telesat, and Eutelsat — to hear their thoughts on what the intersection of changing end user needs, increased competition, and satellite technology evolutions means for the future.
Meeting Global Connectivity DemandsAccording to NSR’s Global Satellite Capacity Supply & Demand, 20th edition report, the Geostationary Orbit (GEO) and Non-GEO (NGSO) high-throughput satellite capacity demand will grow from 1.9 Terabit per second (Tbps) in 2022 to 46.1 Tbps in 2032 — 80 percent of this demand will be for consumer broadband and satellite backhaul & trunking applications.
NSR also estimates that the non-GEO share of total HTS capacity demand will grow from approximately 21 percent in 2022 to about 52 percent in 2032.
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High-Capacity Satellite LaunchesSatellite operators are in full launch mode to meet these bandwidth demands.
Viasat launched the first of its three ViaSat-3 high-throughput satellites in April. Each satellite in the constellation is expected to deliver 1 Tbps throughput, addressing rising global capacity needs, and just one satellite is expected to provide 2.3 times more capacity than Viasat’s current on-orbit fleet.
“Collectively, the three-satellite ViaSat-3 constellation is anticipated to provide more capacity than any other telecommunication Ka-band network currently in orbit,” says Viasat’s David Ryan, president of Space and Commercial Networks. “ViaSat-3 can help connect the 2.7 billion people around the world that are still offline. The ability to provide connectivity to unserved locations helps create opportunities and transform lives.”
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Embracing a Multi-Orbit StrategyWith markets like traditional broadcast shrinking, amid increased demands for connectivity, having the right partnerships has become more important, as evidenced by Eutelsat’s merging with OneWeb and Viasat’s acquisition of Inmarsat.
“Those are six large GEO companies, consolidating before our eyes,” says Glenn Katz, chief commercial officer for Telesat. “A lot of what you'll see is more partnerships between companies and operators that haven’t worked together previously. If they can't do it themselves, they're going to need help from someone else.”
Berneke says Eutelsat merged with OneWeb in order to provide the best optimized network for customers.
“The multi-orbit strategy allows operators to optimize across networks,” says Berneke, when asked about whether a multi-orbit strategy is necessary to succeed. “In telecom, you know that the combination of 3G, edge, and 5G is probably a better-optimized network [from] a consumer perspective than if you only have 3G. Is it easy? No, you need phones that can do all three, you need equipment, grounds, and a network that uses all the best.”
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‘LEO is the Future’Multiple operators are undergoing a radical shift in their focus in response to evolving end user needs and new market pressures, adds Telesat CCO Katz.
Telesat expects to deploy initial satellites for the much-anticipated Lightspeed Network in LEO as soon as 2026, a date that’s been pushed back multiple times due to financing and supply-chain delays. The operator is still working on financing for the constellation.
The LEO constellation, which incorporates next-generation technology including phased-array antennas, space-based data processing, and optical inter-satellite links, can enable a number of enterprise market applications. Telesat says the Lightspeed network will be about 20 times more responsive than today’s GEO satellites, and on par with fiber networks.
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Diversify and ThriveFor Hughes Network Systems, GEO is still a vital component of its consumer broadband business, while it also embraces new technologies. In September 2022, the legacy satellite communications provider unveiled a low-latency satellite internet offering, HughesNet Fusion, which blends GEO satellite and wireless technologies.
“We don't believe that unless you own a massive constellation, you won’t be successful,” says Ramesh Ramaswamy, executive vice president and GM of International at Hughes Network Systems, the EchoStar subsidiary.
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More:
https://interactive.satellitetoday.com/via/july-2023/traditional-operators-start-the-fight-back/
