Description
The business drivers for the satellite services market for communications and applications are clear. Satellites provide coverage in areas where terrestrial wireless cannot. In fact, land-based wireless-only covers roughly 12% of the globe. Stated differently, approximately 40% of the Earth is not covered by wireless communications. This means that there are roughly 4 billion people on the planet without communications and/or Internet access.
Satellite Services Market Dynamics
Certain verticals, such as the maritime industry, require global coverage. This will be especially important as shipping begins to adopt autonomous transport as vessels will continue to require ship-to-shore communications as well as a new need for signaling with on-board ship sensors for navigation and ship controls. The asset management industry also requires satellite systems for coverage in support of the fleet tracking market, supply chain management, and general asset tracking needs. The advent of advanced Internet of Things (IoT) solutions leveraging machine to machine communications and other supporting technologies enables anytime, anywhere, any type of asset tracking. Satellites provide seamless machine-to-machine communications for the IoT based asset tracking market.
While GPS provides the bulk of this today, it is not the best solution for latency-sensitive applications and/or those that require high bandwidth. There is a market need for additional satellite types to provide bandwidth on demand, uninterrupted connectivity, and support for mission-critical operations that require ultra-reliable communications. Mind Commerce sees this as similar to the business case for 5G in the private wireless market such as industrial applications that are time-sensitive. While 5G is poised to dramatically increase terrestrial radiodensity, coverage is not a strong suit, and thus the need for satellites to fill in the holes. The satellite services market will also be an option for 5G backhaul.
Satellite services also provide coverage for business solutions that are often problematic and/or in remote areas such as mining operations, deep-water, and agriculture in third-world countries. The satellite services market is also important in certain industries that require continuous network coverage such as oil & gas, transportation systems involving hybrid networks for autonomous vehicles, and other mission critical communications market solutions. In addition to providing continuous coverage in areas not practical by terrestrial systems, satellites may also provide continuous service in the event that terrestrial systems have a service outage.
However, satellite services do have some downsides, which include cost and signal latency. The former is in a downward trajectory and the latter will be solved by low earth orbit (LEO) satellite systems. The upside of LEOs is that they have much lower latency due to their shorter distance to the earth’s surface, but there is a need for many more than middle earth orbit or geosynchronous satellites and there is also a need for frequent hand-off from one LEO satellite to another. Fortunately, LEO satellites are also much smaller than GEOs, often weighing as little as 10kg (as compared to 1,000kg or more for GEOs) and thus require less expensive launch vehicles.
One of the additional drivers for LEO vs. GEO is that there is a limited number of orbital slots available for GEO satellites. However, LEO’s are not the perfect solution as there are concerns about plans from the likes of SpaceX, OneWeb, and even Amazon project Kuiper to collectively launch thousands of satellites into orbit rendering the earth’s atmosphere a sea of machines. To partially deal with this issue SpaceX requested permission from the FCC to adjust the orbital spacing of its satellites to facilitate three orbital planes rather than one, which they claim will accelerate deployment by taking advantage of a wider service area.
Satellite Services Market Report
This report assesses the satellite services market for communications and specific solutions by segment (consumer, enterprise, industrial, and government customers) as well as by industry vertical. It includes coverage of Internet access, asset tracking, surveillance, and IoT applications. It provides analysis by satellite type (LEO, MEO, and GEO) and by consumer versus a business with segmentation by business type.
The report also provides forecasts for all major solution and application areas as well as by major industry verticals and market segments including consumer, enterprise, industrial, and government segments from 2020 to 2025. It also provides forecasts for satellite service market components and equipment such as Satellite NOC/Hub, terminal, and communications platforms.
It also evaluates satellite support for 5G coverage, applications, and services. This includes both public and private 5G networks, industry verticals, and specific implementations such as supplementing coverage for the smart cities market. It also addresses technology in support of the 5G satellite services market such as artificial intelligence and the use of blockchain. Forecasts include global and regional markets from 2020 to 2025.
