Resilient Government and Military Satellite Communications Market Expected to Grow Despite Short-Term Turbulence
More Than $5 Billion in Additional Revenue by 2022 Even With Current Funding Challenges
Wilmington, DE & London, UK – September 24, 2013 – NSR’s Government and Military Satellite Communications, 10th Edition report, published today, projects government and military users will generate total revenues of US$9.3 billion for commercial satellite communications over the next ten years. This growth comes primarily from UAVs and airborne manned missions, which drive transponder and bandwidth demand, helping the market generate $5 billion in additional revenues annually over the next decade. The market will also benefit from the positive impact of HTS and MEO-HTS services for mobility applications (maritime, aeronautical and land-mobile) as well as comms-on-the-pause, fixed VSATs and bulk leasing.
But before a growth phase takes place in the mid-term, there will be a lull in the coming years as government budgets are cut and satellite communications takes a hit from the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan and Iraq. Despite some regional hotspots that could occur and even with the impending strategic shift of the U.S. towards Asia that could drive demand, NSR’s study points to a real dilemma that could have a negative impact on growth in the market. “Governments are weighing the fine balance between cost and efficiency with the latter often taking a backseat in times of uncertainty,” states report author, Claude Rousseau. “Furthermore, the build-up of proprietary military capacity on top of the incoming onslaught of cheaper HTS and MEO-HTS satellite supply will impact traditional high revenue growth for FSS and MSS operators in the coming decade.”
“There is still a clearly identified need for commercial satellite communications to be an integral part of governments’ future network architectures, for mobility in particular, that will translate into demand for FSS transponders, MSS and HTS/MEO-HTS bandwidth” said Rousseau. “We except fairly strong growth for aeronautical and UAV platforms, but the crux of the matter for our forecast resides in the industry addressing the needs for ongoing requirements while demonstrating that cost-effective solutions from new systems can bring savings across the board.”
About the Report
The GMSC 10th Edition study continues a decade of in-depth and highly detailed analysis and forecast of commercial satellite demand for the government and military market as well as introducing another industry first, a demand assessment of emerging Medium Earth Orbit-High Throughput Satellite (MEO-HTS) constellations that will enter into commercial service in 2014.
About NSR
NSR is a leading international market research and consulting firm with a core focus on the satellite sector and related industries. Founded in 2000 and with an experienced group of analysts located in all regions, NSR specializes in analysis of growth opportunities across four core sectors: Satellite Communications, Broadcasting & Digital Media, Hybrid & Emerging Applications and Commercial Space.
# # #