November 17, 2016
According to
Euroconsult's
newly-published
report, Prospects
for Maritime
Satellite
Communications, in
2015 the global
maritime satellite
communications
market reached close
to 338,000
terminals, $953
million in revenue
at the satellite
operator level and
$1.7 billion in
revenue at the
service provider
level. The value of
the maritime satcom
market will continue
to grow over the
next decade, with a
CAGR of 5% in
terminals and
revenue over the
10-year period.
Ever-increasing data
communications needs
and the massive
launch of new
generation High
Throughput Satellite
(HTS) systems are
expected to drive
growth.
The collapse in oil
prices and the
global oversupply in
the merchant sector,
which particularly
affected bulkers,
have continued to
negatively impact
the maritime sector
overall in 2016,
resulting in a
number of vessels
decommissioning.
However, demand for
maritime satellite
communications
continued to grow,
driven by increasing
operational
communications
needs, as opposed to
crew communications
a few years ago.
Even though crew
communications still
represent the vast
majority of a ship's
consumption,
vessels' operators
are increasingly
interested in big
data-driven
applications that
improve operational
efficiency. As a
result, the number
of VSAT terminals
grew by 9% in 2015
to reach more than
16,000 commercial
active terminals at
year-end. A total of
8.5 Gbps of C-, Ku-
and Ka-band capacity
was used for
maritime VSAT
business, compared
to less than 2 Gbps
in 2010.
"2016 was an
important milestone
for maritime
satellite
communications. It
marked the entry
into service of HTS
satellites with a
major maritime
focus, with the
entry into
commercial operation
of Inmarsat Global
Xpress and Telenor's
Thor 7 satellite, in
addition to the
launch of the first
two Epic
satellites," said
Capucine Fargier,
Consultant at
Euroconsult and
editor of the
report. "A number of
additional HTS
satellites will be
launched in the
coming years, with
maritime satellite
supply expected to
reach ~680 Gbps by
2020. This will
result in a
significant decrease
in capacity prices
which, along with
innovations at the
antenna level with
the entry into
service of
flat-panel antennas
in 2017, will drive
demand for more
bandwidth-hungry
applications such as
big data analytics
and video streaming
applications."
Regarding MSS
services,
competition and
migration to VSATs
will continue on
large vessels.
However, the
development of
smaller and cheaper
MSS broadband
terminals covering
basic communications
needs of small
vessels will open up
a new market for MSS
broadband. This
low-ARPU yet
high-volume vertical
market is expected
to be the main
growth driver for
MSS services.
Consolidation in the
sector is expected
to continue and will
benefit service
providers with
higher purchasing
power and economies
of scale. We will
see consolidation
among both maritime
players (as
demonstrated by the
recent acquisition
of CapRock by
SpeedCast) and other
mobility vertical
(such as GEE's
acquisition of EMC).
