Satellite Communications (SatCom) has entered a period of renewed interest with innovative technological advances, mainly driven by ballooning investment dollars in the high-growth space tech segment and the demand for global connectivity. The SatCom ecosystem has two segments: ground equipment and space. Global technology intelligence firm ABI Research foresees sustained ground segment growth from the SatCom terminals market, potentially reaching a market value of US$15.6 billion by 2030.
“Technological gains in space tech have laid the foundations for innovative SatCom applications across diverse operational domains and a new age of intelligent satellites and satellite ground equipment. With the rapid advancements in Space Tech, the SatCom industry is at a critical inflection point. It is poised to expand beyond niche market status to play a broader role in modern communications in the coming years,” says Dean Tan, Satellite Communications Industry Analyst at ABI Research.
Interest has been growing in how SatCom might complement or even integrate with terrestrial communications networks. Tan explains, “The 3GPP, the Satcom industry, and the terrestrial wireless vendors have been studying and evaluating technology to enable Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) Mobile applications. NTN Mobile is still very nascent, but VSAT and Broad Global Area Network (BGAN) satellite solutions are very much the mainstays of the current SatCom terminals industry.”
From the research findings, ABI Research has also found that the VSAT (very-small-aperture terminal) SatCom solutions will have the lion’s share of the SatCom market revenue, at over 80%. VSAT systems will remain largely the SatCom choice throughout the forecast period. Victor Xu, Satellite Communications Research Analyst at ABI Research says, “Compared to BGAN SatCom solutions, VSAT systems can accommodate larger operations, a wider base of applications, and also handle larger quantities of data much faster. Hence our forecasting a stronger growth for VSAT solutions.”
In different aspects of product differentiation, various models, technological innovations, and the sheer number of manufacturers, VSAT SatCom systems also have a substantial lead over BGAN SatCom systems. The SatCom terminals market will be largely represented by Gilat Satellite Networks, Cobham Satcom, Intellian, Viasat, Hughes Network Systems, KVH, and ST Engineering’s iDirect. These key players will be the driving force in technological and product innovation in the SatCom terminals market.
ABI Research found that the North American region, particularly the United States, will be the dominant region in demand and revenue for SatCom. ABI Research also estimates that the North American region would make up over 30% of the global SatCom terminals market. “North America will dominate the SatCom market as governmental spending on military and communication networks and rapid adoption of Space Tech are strong drivers,” Xu concludes.
These findings are from ABI Research’s Satellite Communication Terminals & CPE Shipments market data report.
