Successful Cases of Satellite Operators and New Industry Trends
29.04.2025
The Satellite 2025 conference, held in March 2025 in Washington, USA, discussed the most pressing issues of concern to the satellite communications industry players: D2D as already a full-fledged element of the 5G NTN ecosystem; new launch vehicles expected to change the market in the near future; company achievements; new strategic alliances, and promotion of promising services.
Starlink is not the only one to make big deals
Satellite operators spoke 1 of their latest contracts and achievements, disproving the current opinion that Starlink undisputedly dominates the satellite communications industry. High and growing demand for such services opens up development opportunities for all players who keep tracking the changing trends and customer requirements.
Adel Al-Saleh, CEO of SES, noted that Starlink's big deals are in the focus, but it doesn't mean that other players are left out. “We are all making big deals. There is incredible demand in the market and it is growing," he said before the opening of Satellite 2025, highlighting the cruise ship connection.
As to SpaceX, it announced 2 5 million Starlink subscribers and said it was focusing on laser communications, and was also contemplating adding traditional service level agreements (SLAs) to its corporate service.
Dividends as a proof of adequate strategy
Iridium paid $1.2 billion to its shareholders since 2021 and plans to pay another $300 million in 2025. This means the business is well structured and has the right vector of development, according to the company's CFO O'Neill. He stressed that the use of the L-band guarantees service reliability enabling to provide services to government and military customers, and certify it to ensure the maritime and air transportation safety.
IFC as the key point of growth
Intelsat has contracted for in-flight communications services with two international airlines and certified a new multi-orbit electronically steered antenna (ESA) for IFC. The company expects to equip about 700 aircraft with this antenna by the end of the year. During the merger with SES, the company's strategy was changed to focus more on managed services. Much effort was spent on streamlining the financial position.
Multi-transport technology
Hughes Network Systems has made an additional deal with Delta Air Lines to use Fusion technology for IFC. Fusion is not offered as a multi-orbit technology, rather Hughes positions it as a multi-transport technology, since it includes 5G capabilities along with geostationary and low-orbit capabilities. Telesat is working on the market launch of the Lightspeed low-orbit constellation, with the first launch planned for the second half of 2026. The operator believes that high-quality, affordable, resilient and low-latency broadband is in high demand.
The market demands commercial production of satellites
Eva Bernecke, CEO, Eutelsat Group, expressed dissatisfaction with and even referred to it as “a kind of crime” that industry engineers ‘spend much more time on scaling and capabilities rather than reducing costs.’ It is time to start commercial production of satellites. Reducing overall costs throughout the supply chain is the key factor in the development of multi-satellite constellations.
Viasat and Space42 are building 5G NTN
Space42 (whose subsidiary is operator Yahsat) and Viasat have signed a memorandum of understanding to explore the deployment and operation of the 5G non-terrestrial network (NTN). A priority cooperation area is satellite communications using regular mobile devices, or “device-to-device,” or D2D.
According to Space42 estimates, the satellite segment of D2D will reach $50 billion by 2032. The second priority of the joint activities is the narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT). The partners expect to design a common multi-orbit 5G NTN infrastructure based on Mobile Satellite Services Association (MSSA) recommendations, which include the use of licensed MSS satellite spectrum (L- and S-bands) and open, interoperable architectures based on 3GPP standards. Such approach will ensure global roaming for all players and create new markets for D2D, IoT, and MSS.
Both companies are working with their strategic partners on the projects that later may be included in the emerging ecosystem: Viasat is exploring the possibility of building a low-orbit D2D network together with the European Space Agency and deploying 5G NTN infrastructure based on such network; Space42 is starting to implement the D2D constellation plan.
D2D is particularly appealing to operators
Interesting is that Intelsat and SES almost simultaneously and independently, invested both in the same D2D service and in the same company, Lynk.
At Satellite 2025, Adel Al-Saleh 3 mentioned the strategic partnership between SES and Lynk Global, a D2D service provider. SES finances and partners with Lynk to deliver projects, primarily for government customers and the mobile industry. Lynk and SES networks are expected to be Integrated.
D2D satellite production moves to Europe. Satellite sovereignty has recently become a major market factor, and Europe is among the leaders who follow this trend. The production of Lynk satellites in Europe will enable the operator to join European projects. SES provides its network for the transmission of customer and service traffic, satellite tracking and control.
A few days after Satellite 2025 4, it was disclosed that Intelsat also invested in Lynk. David Wajsgras said they were driven by their own insight and vision of the development of promising services. Closely mirroring SES's approach, Intelsat sees potential in deploying Lynk Global's services and technologies to government customers and mobile operators.
Characteristically, neither company has disclosed how much they have invested in Lynk Global, which currently uses five satellites to provide global coverage and reduce signal latency. The operator expects to deploy its constellation of up to five thousand satellites.
Prospects of the military uses of D2D
One of the conference discussions focused 5 on the use of D2D systems for the benefit of military and security agencies.
Security agencies are interested in the new service, and such a promising customer is appealing for operators.
The most obvious things that the military saw: D2D could impact the quality of life of service personnel by enabling them to communicate with home. This could be an important driver for recruiting and encouraging them to continue service.
D2D can be the best communication channel when there is no infrastructure, and therefore can be indispensable for activities in disaster areas, humanitarian disasters, or patrolling remote areas.
Satellite sovereignty is a promising product
Lynk is not moving its production out of the US for no reason: Europe thinks it necessary to have its own global satellite system. To secure sovereign communications, the European Union has contracted for IRIS², a multi-orbit constellation to be used by commercial customers, and government and security agencies.
Rivada Space Networks is preparing 6 to launch its satellites in 2026 to provide secure corporate communications services. The company offers the Outernet concept as a fully autonomous global network and positions it as an opportunity for any country or corporation to have a sovereign network.
Constellation as a service
However, one of the conference panel discussions also addressed 7 joint use of satellite constellations. Marlan Space offers a constellation-as-a-service model, when the operator pays capital costs, while current expenses are paid by the customers. Marlan is currently constructing a factory in Abu Dhabi to produce up to 50 satellites per year.
The Combined Space Operations Initiative (CspO) joins the space capabilities of the US and its allies, with the objective to facilitate integration and coordination of national space programmes.
To integrate various space systems, the Cloud-based Mission Operations Center (CMOC) project is being promoted, which is currently used by Amazon and Capella Space to manage space operations.
Ground segment
Discussants of multi-orbital services did not put a high value 8 on the development of multi-orbital terminals. They were asked to use a score from 1 to 10, and the highest score was 6. Multi-orbital services themselves were scored slightly higher, 7 out of 10.
However, all discussants agreed that the industry is progressing, and that exciting and interesting times are in store for all players.
New launch vehicles (LV) to meet new market requirements
Companies are bringing new launch vehicles to market, with the first launches of Vulcan, Ariane 6 and New Glenn in the last 15 months. The panel discussion also addressed 9 SpaceX's dominance (this time, Falcon 9 rather than Starlink) and the growing demand. Arianespace plans five Ariane 6 launches this year, and further plans to launch 10 per year. Blue Origin is also preparing for the growing demand and plans to shorten the interval between launches. SpaceX cannot bring its Starship to the market yet, but remains the indisputable leader: 134 launches in 2023 and 170 in 2024. Commercial use of Starship will be another breakthrough in the launch service market, driving the demand for launches.
ULA also notes an unprecedented growth in launch demand and believes that the inevitable subsequent market decline will not be very strong. The company is currently working on reusable components. Rocket Lab actively continues to build a comprehensive, integrated business that it believes to lead to success in the multi-satellite constellation market.
Discussants outlined the key trend: launch prices will continue to drop driven by growing competition and innovations.
Quantum computation and artificial intelligence
Implementing quantum computation for encryption purposes will require satellites capable of transmitting keys over long distances. Efficient distribution of bandwidth and route traffic require intelligent resource management of multi-satellite and multi-orbit systems using artificial intelligence and machine learning. It was suggested that further 10 growth of satellite capacity is possible given introduction of intelligent control systems on the ground.
Satellites for fighting fires
The recent fires in California have brought up the question of what can satellites do to combat the disaster? Interaction of fire-fighting services and satellite technology providers has become particularly relevant. Currently, satellite technology helps fire-fighting services locate facilities and vehicles, and monitor temperatures to predict fires before they start.
Obviously, with an infrastructure destroyed by fire, satellite communications become particularly important. The conference attendees discussed 11 the potential combining of low earth orbit (LEO) and geostationary orbit (GEO) satellites to simultaneously provide maximum coverage and system response time. Mike Ford, senior scientist at NOAA, spoke about the creation of new firefighting systems combining satellites in low earth and geostationary orbits. Some ‘earthy’ issues were also addressed: to purchase satellite operator services, the communications departments of fire-fighting services will need separate and huge budgets.
And certainly, D2D was also mentioned here as a promising technology to help fight fires.