For the satellite communications industry, change has become the new constant.
The satcom industry has largely been the same for decades, dominated by a handful of legacy providers. However, with 7,000+ Starlink sats in orbit and Amazon preparing to start its Kuiper constellation this year, the sector has begun to feel the full-scale effects of rapid growth in LEO space internet services, intensifying competition among traditional satcom operators.
The industry is also making significant strides in integrating satellite technology into the 5G non-terrestrial ecosystem as satellite operators strive to support next-generation connectivity and direct-to-device capabilities, all aimed at improving the overall user experience.
“For the industry at large, it brought back to mind the importance of the overall user experience—not just connectivity but meaningful improvements to connectivity,” Daniel Gizinski, president of Comtech’s Satellite and Space Communications segment, told Payload.
The SpaceX effect: The satcom industry has historically enjoyed comfortable stability thanks to established key players and predictable margins, but SpaceX’s recent rapid growth disrupted this equilibrium. The lower cost, expansive reach and overall higher performance of Starlink services in particular has captured a significant share of the satcom market’s growing revenues, forcing other operators into rethinking how to remain more competitive and more relevant.
Government procurement models are also feeling the impacts of these shifts, driving global initiatives to ensure space-based comms can withstand challenges from Russia and China.
The DoD is accelerating efforts to enhance resilience and proliferation by utilizing smaller, distributed satellites from non-traditional contractors.
The EU is working to achieve similar independence with its $11.1B IRIS² satellite constellation.
These changes, fueled by an influx of funding at a level not seen in years past, are creating new opportunities for companies like San Francisco-based Astranis. The company is scaling up its MicroGEO fleet, showcasing the potential for faster deployment times and more adaptable satellite operations. “This whole industry is scaling up significantly and so are we,” Astranis VP Christian Keil told Payload.
Not all the impacts have been positive, however. Last November, Australia cancelled its much-anticipated $5B Joint Project 9102 military satellite program that had been awarded to Lockheed Martin, citing the rapid evolution of space technology and the market’s shift toward multi-orbit capabilities, which rendered the project’s original single-orbit geostationary approach outdated. “It really shows how much has changed in the industry,” said Gizinski.
Building resiliency
When the US military needs to communicate through space, that capability better be there. That’s why the Space Force is boosting the funding to build proliferated, resilient systems, including nearly $900M earmarked for procurement of satellite services and custom-built GEO satellites this year and the next.
For Astranis, which has already demonstrated that its satellites are maneuverable and flexible, “it’s dead-on with the kind of thing we know how to do,” said Keil. The company has been steadily growing its MicroGEO satellite fleet since launching its first satellite, Arcturus, in 2023.
Last year, it launched four MicroGEO satellites and plans to launch five more later this year—if successful, this would mark a record increase from one to ten satellites in GEO in just a couple of years, faster than any other GEO operator in history. “That’s a big deal—it means that we’re proving out the model that you can build multiple of these things at the same time,” Keil said.
The shift toward digitalization: Historically, the satcom industry relied on proprietary, analog architectures, but it is steadily transitioning to digital systems in a deliberate effort to make networks more cost-effective, flexible and easier-to-manage for operators and end users.
“If you imagine the back of a cable modem, you’ve got the coaxial cables—fragile, difficult to work with—and you have ethernet cables,” said Gizinski. “It is the exact same transition in satellite—we’re moving away from coaxial cables to ethernet cables. It brings a whole lot of cost out of total infrastructure.”
As new satellite constellations with advanced technologies and capabilities are launched into orbit, a higher level of orchestration will be required to support the consumer markets the industry is moving toward, he said. “Ultimately, the challenge is and remains—how do you do that without burdening the end user?”
Tapping into the PNT market: Building resilience is also extending to developing the next-generation of positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) systems. Virginia-based Iridium, with its extensive satellite coverage, sees itself as well-positioned in the growing PNT market to serve military and critical infrastructure customers, particularly those prone to jamming and spoofing.
These services are already protecting critical infrastructure, deployed in military hotspots where jamming is common, and have been successfully tested on ships and aircraft, said Iridium CEO Matt Desch. “Our biggest challenge in the PNT area is getting people to understand that we have a very mature and complete solution,” he noted.
Embracing software-defined orchestrated networks: Historically, ground systems operated independently of satellites, offering limited flexibility since both satellite configurations and ground systems remained static over time. However, with the advent of new satellite technology, ground systems too need to dynamically adapt to work with these modern, reconfigurable satellites.
In response, the satcom industry has begun adopting software-defined, orchestrated networks, moving away from traditional, proprietary hardware-based systems. Last year, Kratos embraced this shift with the launch of OpenSpace, the first commercial virtualized and software-defined ground system designed for satcom. Unlike traditional, hardware-based legacy satcom networks, this transition enables operators to make real-time adjustments to network profiles, allowing them to respond dynamically to demand and emerging threats.
While hardware-based networks typically remain unchanged for 10 to 15 years once deployed, orchestrated software networks allow for network profile adjustments as quickly as every 15 minutes, Greg Quiggle, Kratos Defense’s vice president of product management, told Payload.
Plus, recent market disruptions, led by SpaceX and with Amazon’s Kuiper megaconstellation not far behind, have “really driven the industry to take a different approach to what the satcom systems need to look like,” Quiggle added.
Direct to device
Satellite operators are increasingly participating in the 5G ecosystem, seeking to support next-generation connectivity through 5G compliant non-terrestrial network (NTN) standards while increasing their competitiveness by offering an alternative to Starlink.
Last year, Iridium’s request to extend space-based Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) connectivity was approved, paving the way for its satellite services to be accessible by any device with industry-standard chips. Next up, the company says it is reprogramming its second-generation Iridium NEXT satellite network to be compatible with 5G standards, which will allow it to deliver these services directly through its existing satellite network.
This year, Iridium plans to test its NTN Direct service—born from its Stardust initiative—using its current satellite network.
By 2026, it aims to roll out commercial 5G NTN messaging and SOS capabilities.
“We’re making a lot of progress very quickly,” said Desch. “It’ll be one of the fastest services we’ve ever implemented on our network.”
Meanwhile, Kratos plans to dedicate much of this year to launching 5G solutions using the OpenSpace platform, with the goal of expanding their customer base and conducting a series of first-time tests for 5G on GEO satellites, Quiggle said.
Exploring new markets: In addition to adopting 5G, an emerging market for Iridium is the autonomous vehicle industry, which includes unmanned aerial, maritime, and surface vehicles that require communication technologies beyond line-of-sight and in remote areas. Drones, for example, are typically lightweight with limited space for large antennas, and serve as one example of command-and-control missions that can benefit from Iridium’s mobile satellite spectrum, which eliminates the need for ground infrastructure due to cross-links, making it an ideal companion or backup technology, says Desch.
The company also sees itself as well-positioned in aviation safety, with its services already used in the cockpits of long-haul airliners. Through its joint venture with Aireon, Iridium can track aircraft in real time, as frequently as twice every second, providing a reliable communication link between air traffic controllers and pilots while effectively addressing GPS spoofing or jamming.
“We’re well-positioned to solve a lot of problems in the aviation safety space,” says Desch. “Our global coverage, our lightweight services, and our ability to be certified for safety applications means that growth in aviation is going to be really important for us.”
Rallying for industry-wide standardization
Last year, the satcom industry began uniting around a common standard—5G NTN—that enables multiple satellite operators to collaborate and compete against SpaceX while opening up more opportunities for space-related services, said Quiggle.
Satcom operators are banding together to support features like network roaming and achieving better economies of scale.
SpaceX’s 5G NTN network, based on a derivative of 4G wireless technology, is a closed, proprietary system.
Amazon’s Kuiper megaconstellation is expected to have a similar impact on cost and competitiveness as SpaceX’s Starlink, further driving the industry’s shift toward common standards.
This shift marks a move away from the long-standing reliance on proprietary systems, which were designed for a time of limited bandwidth, toward a more open, standardized approach as satellite bandwidth and technology continue to expand.
“The idea is that, together, they’re stronger and can better position themselves against SpaceX as a disruption,” said Quiggle.