- Satellite operators and telecom operators are working together on quite a few exciting fronts
- The satellite operator SES is leading the charge on multi-orbit connectivity, which borrows the concept from SD-WAN
- Get the full story — download our free report — on all the ways telecom and satellite are partnering
There’s a lot of buzz in the telecom industry about satellite. SpaceX is disrupting the broadband industry with its Starlink satellite service, especially now that the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program is awarding so many unserved locations to Starlink. And of course, exciting things are happening in the wireless realm with mobile operators such as T-Mobile, offering emergency satellite texting, and connectivity on other applications, via regular cell phones. AT&T and Verizon are scrambling to do the same thing.
Fierce Network Research recently penned a report entitled “Satcoms + telecom: A match made in the heavens,” which looks at all the ways satellite and telecom are working with each other.
One thing that is novel is that the satellite operator SES is leading the charge on a technology known as multi-orbit connectivity.
For a little background, SES (which sponsored the report) is a large and influential satellite operator, although not a household name. The company started decades ago as a geostationary Earth orbit (GEO) satellite provider of wholesale capacity to TV broadcasters and cable companies for satellite video. In July, SES closed on its acquisition of Intelsat, and now the combined company is the largest GEO operator in the world.
In addition, SES is the only commercial medium Earth orbit (MEO) operator, owning a constellation of 30 MEO satellites, to date.
Typically, satellite operators stay in their own orbit, literally — be it GEO, MEO or LEO. However, SES is leading the charge on multi-orbit connectivity, which combines orbits to offer the best characteristics of each for particular use cases.
The concept for multi-orbit connectivity is akin to a software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN), which uses the best network technology for any particular use case, based on real-time conditions.
“Combining orbits allows us to use different satellite characteristics depending on the use case we’re trying to serve,” said Christophe Fondin, VP product management, Connectivity Solutions at SES.
Multi-orbit connectivity uses a combination of customer edge terminals, satellites, terrestrial gateways and software. The customer edge terminals can be fixed, mobile or portable, and they typically include an antenna, modem and sometimes a router. The customer edge terminals serve as the interface between users’ devices and satellites.
Traffic from the terminals is sent to satellites that relay the data to terrestrial gateways, which are large, fixed ground stations connected to the global internet or telecom backbone. These gateways — along with network orchestration software — help determine the optimal satellite orbit for any particular use case. The orchestration software can switch the traffic dynamically between GEO, MEO and LEO.
Most GEO operators are looking into multi-orbit solutions, according to analyst Vivek Prasad with Analysys Mason. SES is “uniquely positioned” in this regard because it has been operating its MEO and GEO satellites for many years now, and it has a relatively better understanding of integrating their capacities, he said.
“They are, I believe, ahead in terms of developing a seamless solution, utilizing both the orbits alternately,” Prasad said.
GEO and MEO players are also partnering with LEO operators for multi-orbit solutions.
For a full rundown of how satellite operators are working with telecom operators, download the free Fierce Network Research report.