Satellite Seen Lacking Unified Voice on Spectrum Needs

The Ka- and Ku-bands have “served us well,” enabling satellite broadband, but “we need to grow out of them,” with the Q- and V-band critical for the industry’s additional spectrum needs, said Hughes Executive Vice President-Engineer Adrian Morris Tuesday at VSAT Congress. Citing the unified front the wireless industry presents on spectrum issues, he urged a more unified satellite voice and more cooperation between low Earth and geostationary orbit constellation interests. He said it will be tough for satellite to retain all spectrum rights, but said it will have more success with a focus on necessities. The industry needs some dedicated bands, but co-primary status “is not a bad place to be,” he said. He said Hughes is “strongly looking” at Q-band technology, in large part because Earth station hardware advanced to enable use of the band. The very small aperture terminal (VSAT) industry is struggling with data price wars squeezing mar- gins, said Susan Bull, Comsys senior consultant. Demand is growing for satellite-enabled mobile services, but they also are becoming a commoditized service, she said. Almost all 2.3 million consumer VSAT sites in service are in North America, with attempts at offering consumer services in developing markets having failed, Bull said. She said new Hughes and ViaSat efforts to expand into developing markets could succeed, though challenged by affordability issues. Bull said the industry is still struggling to see how it can compete with terrestrial data providers, especially since bandwidth around the globe sometimes is being sold way below cost. VSAT’s key problem—latency—will be tackled by low Earth orbit (LEO) and medium Earth orbit satellites and high-altitude platform stations, and VSATs need to bounce from LEOs to geostationary satellites, and integrate with terrestrial wireless networks, she said. The satellite industry is moving toward a configurable standard production of satellites, assembled “in a Lego-type situation,” which should drive down costs, said Bull. She said there’s growing VSAT distrust of satellite operators as the latter move into VSAT operator markets.