SpaceX Hammering Satellite Capacity Prices: Panel
Plummeting prices are a challenge for geostationary orbit (GSO) satellite operators, but they ultimately could be a boon by opening markets and otherwise increasing demand, Eutelsat Vice President-Pricing and Analytics Mark Kirley said. During a Global Satellite Operators Association event Thursday, he and other GSO executives said price competition from SpaceX's non-geostationary orbit Starlink system is hitting some markets and applications harder than others. "It's a tough time for [GSO] satellite operators," said Glenn Katz, Telesat chief commercial officer.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Communications Daily is required reading for senior executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies (including the FCC). Join them today!
Satellite operators were charging slightly more than $35/Mbps/month in North America in 2019, and today it's less than $10, Novaspace senior consultant Grace Khanuja said. Kirley added that Eutelsat now reviews its prices every four weeks in some regions, instead of every three or six months.
Abdulhadi Alhassani, former chief strategy officer at Arabsat and now a consultant there, noted the particular price pressure on enterprise connectivity, which is increasingly a commodity. Service for government and natural resource extraction has been more resistant to price pressures, he added. Telesat's Katz said prices for some maritime applications have been more stable, while others have dropped dramatically in the past three to four years. Deepu Pillai, SES manager-strategy and market intelligence, said video service prices haven't been touched as much as data prices.
Kirley said Starlink service is good enough for consumers and some small and midsize enterprises, but GSO operators can find a niche with customers needing connectivity with specific qualities like security or resilience.
The ease of using Starlink service is one of SpaceX's big advantages, and other satellite operators need to match it, Katz said, while noting that GSO systems are bespoke. He said Telesat's planned Lightspeed low earth orbit constellation opens the door for the company to have a lower-cost system based on interoperability.