In years past, satellite broadband service has been synonymous with a last-resort pull to receive a signal in an underserved area where it’s often difficult to access the internet or watch cable television otherwise. The solution was accompanied by a clunky satellite dish that sat on the roof and had to be positioned in precisely the right angle to enable even fuzzy, unreliable signal.
The service used to be costly, time-consuming and complicated at best, though, for the 10% of Americans who live in a region that lacks access to top-quality voice, data and video broadband services, it was the only option.
Yet, today, a new era of satellite technology is taking over and changing the game. Over the next few years, it’s only expected to further sophisticate, meaning that the underserved market may soon have access to stronger, more efficient signals. At the same time, even traditional broadband customers may begin making the switch to satellite, as it will be a more economical and effective alternative. Today, we’re exploring a few ways this technology is changing and what current and future customers can expect.
The Pull of Traditional Broadband
Research reveals that 82% of Americans receive traditional broadband service from either their cable or telephone company. Yet, when you consider the numbers, though it is convenient, this option can be less than cost-effective when one considers the overall price of the service per megabit of signal provided.
This number varies in different parts of the world, with subscribers in Eastern Europe paying only around $9.50 per month. In the United States, it amounts to a monthly average of $66.17. Though this is staggering in comparison, researchers show that some West African nations, including Burkina Faso, pay more than $950 per month for the same service.
Why, then, do subscription numbers continue to climb? The short answer is that for many markets, broadband is the only option and as such, providers have little to no competition. Thus, though price spikes and plan changes occur, customers continue to pay to receive the level of service they’ve come to expect. At the same time, satellite providers have focused their efforts specifically on unserved and underserved populations, which myriad reports claim to be amount to between 15 million and 18 million U.S. households, rather than attempting to crack into the high-speed market. In comparison, more than 100 million households receive fixed broadband services.
How, then can satellite technology expand its offerings and become as competitive as possible? The answer lies in sending more equipment into space, though this procedure is not without its challenges.
The Impetus to Expand Satellite Service Areas
The response to inquiries such as this is that it’s costly to send satellite equipment up to space. They must be affixed to a rocket to enter the area, a process which, depending on their size, can cost more than $4,600 per kilogram. To put this into perspective, a large satellite can weigh up to 10,000 kilograms, making the total amount to around $46 million. As such, the generation of satellites currently in orbit cost between $10 million and $100 million to launch and operate.
As such, the solution has been limited in scale, with major satellite providers owning only a handful each of the ones currently in operation. That said, not only is the process costly, it can also be accompanied by limited capacity. Depending on where it is located in space, any given satellite isn’t capable of providing signal access to everyone in the world. Rather, their efforts are focused on a specific part of it and can often reach full functionality quicker than anticipated.
In fact, one major provider recently reported that its Jupiter satellites were currently supporting the maximum number of customers that they could reach. As a result, it plans to unveil a new generation of satellites, known as Jupiter-2, in the next three years, that is capable of reaching a larger customer base with improved speeds of up to 100 megabits per second (Mbps). In comparison, its current plans operate at 25 Mbps.
The Challenge of Satellite Connectivity
One reason that satellite services can be unreliable is that for the signal to come in clearly, weather conditions must be optimal. This is because a ground user’s web request, which stems from its dish, must have a clear and direct signal to the satellite’s receiver. Any time there is rain or a cloud cover, this signal is prohibited from reaching its full capacity, resulting in slower performance.
This signal interference also affects latency, as the signal must travel from the user all the way up into space, covering a distance of more than 20,000 miles. From there, it must return to the provider’s network operations center back on Earth, where it then travels to the internet backbone itself. To allow the user to receive access, the entire process then happens in reverse.
As a result, web users often experience around a half-second of delay, which can seem like hours to communities used to receiving a lightning-quick signal. There are also heavy power requirements needed for this system to operate successfully, as the signal strength it takes to penetrate past the Earth’s atmosphere is significant. Keeping in mind that such systems are reliant upon solar power, striking the correct balance between the signal input power and that of the satellite can be tricky. New approaches, however, are poised to help mitigate such challenges.
New Approaches Based on Innovative Technology
To help satellites receive a clearer, more reliable and more cost-effective signal, major providers are now making the switch from one or two massive satellites orbiting Earth to a network of smaller-scale ones orbiting closer to the planet. When complete, these networks can include up to 900 or more individual satellites capable of reaching a greater market, including that of commercial broadband customers.
Known as Low Earth Orbits, these sleek satellites are less expensive than their clunkier counterparts, coming in at around $1 million each, with that number expected to drop to as low as $10,000 as the technology advances and customers catch on. Just how are these monetary gains achieved? The answer lies in how the satellites are manufactured. The LEOs will be constructed using lower-priced, mass-produced materials via an assembly line. This way, in the event that a particular part becomes defective, providers aren’t required to spend time and resources attempting to fix it. They can simply replace the part and continue to provide uninterrupted service.
In this way, LEOs are akin to some servers located in major data centers across the U.S. When big technology companies utilize these servers, they do so to maintain uptime and file access. They don’t have the time to spend on repair so instead, they use generic materials that can be swapped out for a replacement part when necessary.
What to Expect from Satellite Providers Moving Forward
Over the next few years, expect to see an LEO rollout from major satellite providers. Some of the new hardware will be affixed to major rockets, including Virgin Orbit, as soon as the next few months. Though it remains to be seen whether or not the new infrastructure will be powerful and affordable enough to disrupt the commercial market, the unserved and underserved populations will have access to quicker, more reliable service than ever before.
From homeowners to business owners, this improved connectivity is welcomed. Over time, this improved access could even be an impetus to convince more people to move away from cities and into more rural areas, which have, until now, been cut off from the grid. That remoteness is about to transform, however, as LEO systems are researched, fine-tuned and delivered around the world. The result will be a competitive internet market that can ultimately drive up offerings while dropping cost-per-bit prices across the board.
