A report from Northern Sky Research (NSR) suggests that satellite-based phone connectivity is “on the brink of mainstream adoption”. NSR says that the latest collaboration agreements between likes of SpaceX, T-Mobile, Apple and Globalstar have reinforced the notion of early deployments.
NSR Research Director, Jose Del Rosario quoted in SpaceNews Northern Sky Research expects global capacity supply to soar from about 39 terabits per second (Tbps) today to 172 Tbps by 2030. More than 61 Tbps of this satellite capacity is on track to cover Asia by 2030, according to Jose Rosario, research director at Northern Sky Research.
Space data traffic is dominated by satellite communications (SATCOM), making up 530 EB out of the 566 EB of global space traffic over the period from 2021-2031. The SATCOM market is experiencing a transition from video to data, driven by changing end-user demand and technical innovations, with overall growth amounting to 26% by 2031. Within.
Connectivity is not a luxury anymore for mobility markets. Be it terrestrial or satellite – anything that moves frequently needs to be connected. Increase the number of people, the cost of the asset or the criticality of its mission – and the need for connectivity scales exponentially. Put those assets – a car, train, ship.
Unlike technically proven (FSS-band) LEO-HTS satcom constellations requiring communication terminals, these new initiatives aim to deliver on the promise of direct satellite-to-regular-handset communications through cellular and MSS spectrum in areas unreachable by existing cell towers. Yet, architectural facets drive a wide set of capabilities ranging from asynchronous emergency texting to continuous voice and broadband data connectivity.