We usually look up to the sky, whether we pray or express our anguish. Technology companies are also looking up to the sky but entirely for a different reason - "The Satellite Internet".

Satellite Internet or satellite broadband services are not new to the US and European market, but this term is relatively new to other parts of the world. Europe has been using satellite broadband services since 2007, but the user numbers are insignificant. Satellite Internet caught the eyeballs when SpaceX’s founder said that space-based internet service could generate billions of dollars in revenue in a year.

Though it Is correct that high-income nations are using satellite internet services, it has a significantly low market share than the overall internet services market. For example, in the US, only 6% of the user depends on satellite internet service.

Need of Space-based Internet Services:

Satellite Internet or space-based Internet is important where regular Internet services cannot reach via fixed lines (copper wire and fiber optic cables) or by other means - e.g., In rough mountainous areas or the middle of the ocean or the scorching desert.

For instance, 25% of the population in India lives where it is challenging for network providers to set up shop.

In satellite-based internet service, data transmission happens in three places: a satellite orbiting in space; a ground station called the network operations center (or NOC) at the provider’s location; a satellite signal receiver dish installed at the consumer’s location.

The Existing Market: 

Most of the satellites that are being used to provide internet services in remote locations are Geosynchronous Equatorial Orbit (GEO) Satellites. GEO satellites orbit at ~22k miles above the earth and due to this distance of GEO satellites from the earth, the speed and latency [~700 milliseconds] for broadband connectivity hurts. For instance, HughesNet has a reach of 99% of the US population, but a recent survey conducted by Trustpilot reports that HughesNet scores around 2.9 stars out of 5 from consumers. Consumer’s major complaints were slow speeds and an expensive cancellation process. The company became the first satellite-based internet provider after meeting the US Federal Communications Commission’s definition of “broadband” with HughesNet Gen5 after launching the EchoStar XVII and XIX high-throughput satellites. It is to be noted that EchoStar XVII and EchoStar 17 are geostationary satellites.

Similarly, Luxembourgish-based satellite and terrestrial telecommunications network provider SES Broadband (previously known as ASTRA2Connect) provides two-way satellite broadband Internet service available across Europe, which was launched in 2007, using Astra series of geostationary satellites.

India launched the GSAT-11 geostationary communications satellite in 2018, which is playing a vital role in providing better broadband service in remote locations of the country.

The Upcoming Market: 

Global players are looking to enter the satellite broadband services market by deploying satellites in low earth orbit (LEO). They are launching a constellation of satellites [a group of artificial satellites which will operate together as a system] near to the earth’s surface [~620 miles (1k kilometers)] to reduce the latency of satellite internet. Compared to GEO, LEO has much better latency, which is only ~50 milliseconds so it can be optimally used for video conferencing and Metaverse applications such as Augmented Reality (AR), Metaverse Real Estate, etc.

Major Players:

Starlink is SpaceX’s satellite broadband service and is the largest and most advanced satellite broadband provider to date. Starlink to use the Ka, Ku, and V frequency bands. Few names of the major players are presented in the below table.