Within the context of this very competitive and turbulent landscape, the satellite communications sector must embrace innovation as a means to recover and thrive over the coming decade. Despite a decline of over $2 billion in annual regular capacity revenues, Euroconsult forecasts the total market to grow to $15.3 billion in 2026. Revenue growth is to be largely carried by HTS systems that are better positioned to address the growing demand of data-centric applications.

"The last two years have confirmed the appeal of HTS for several user segments through the signing of capacity contracts and the endorsement of broadband LEO constellation projects by companies such as SoftBank," said Pacome Revillon, CEO of Euroconsult and editor of the report. "The leasing of larger capacity volumes will however be at the expense of lower pricing, also in a context of heightening competition. HTS market revenues should increase significantly over the coming decade to more than 50% of FSS market revenues by 2026. Moving forward, HTS systems will represent a driving force for data segments, with regular wide-beam capacity continuing to occupy a complementary role. This regular capacity will remain key to the TV broadcasting business."

As part of the satellite capacity shall increasingly become a commodity product, some satellite operators are transitioning from wholesale bandwidth supplier to managed service providers to get closer to the end-customer and to avoid the commodity price trap. At the same time, growth opportunities will continue to materialize such as those found in emerging regions, with TV distribution, government programs for rural connectivity, enterprise networks and cellular backhaul all continuing to grow over the next ten years. In the most mature markets, some historical businesses will erode, potentially including TV distribution. In the meantime, new growth opportunities for mobility, broadband access and wireless network extension should be enabled by new satellite solutions.