Polar Satcom Markets Warming Up
 

December 15, 2015

NSR’s newest report, Polar Satellite Markets, released today, finds a growth market for Arctic and Antarctic satellite communications, supported via a range of applications, orbits, and frequency bands all serving to build value in this nascent region.  Driven mainly by telephony/trunking and video, NSR projects the polar satcom market reaching $447M by 2024.
 
“While the polar regions often tend to be an overlooked part of the globe when it comes to satellite communications, NSR found that despite challenges from geography, limited populations and infrastructure, growth opportunities do exist in the polar regions, if you know where to look” stated Alan Crisp, NSR Analyst and report author.
 
FSS C- and Ku-band together drive the highest transponder leasing revenues with over $146M in 2015, and are expected to continue showing growth to 2024. FSS fill rates also remain over 80%, indicating an Arctic supply shortage and pent-up demand. However, NSR found there is currently no dedicated supply in the Arctic, with most supply coming as spillover from Russia, Europe and North America.”
 
LEO-HTS constellations, as a secondary market, will be able to address the technical challenges to bring broadband speeds for the first time to the more extreme regions of the Arctic and Antarctic. This will be a game changer for key applications, especially Broadband Access, which will accelerate revenue growth for the region and in the process bring new capabilities to industry, mine sites, and Arctic shipping routes, among others. Nevertheless, FSS C- and Ku-band still have a significant role to play long-term, driven by video broadcasting applications and telephony & carrier.
 
“Though satellite operators are not actively launching capacity solely for the high risk polar regions, incorporating polar demand into a go-to-market strategy will increase ROI by targeting communities with traditionally high cost and poor service communications solutions, limited competition and by having a ‘first mover advantage’” added Crisp. Satellite operators can leverage opportunities in the Arctic, but Antarctica is significantly more limited. LEO-HTS systems, which will be able to address the technical challenges in the polar region, and make the cost equation more compelling, could also lead to more government spending on USO type programs.