The global satellite IoT communications market is growing at a steady pace, according to Berg Insight, with its subscriber base growing to more than 4,5-million in 2022 – and with CAGR forecast at 39,6% it will reach 23,9-million units in 2027.
Only about 10% of the Earth’s surface has access to terrestrial connectivity services which leaves a massive opportunity for satellite IoT communications. Satellite connectivity provides a complement to terrestrial cellular and non-cellular networks in remote locations, especially useful for applications in agriculture, asset tracking, maritime and intermodal transportation, oil and gas industry exploration, utilities, construction, and governments.
Both incumbent satellite operators and more than two dozen new initiatives are now betting on the IoT connectivity market, Berg Insight says, adding that its new study covers a total of 44 satellite IoT operators.
“Iridium, Orbcomm, Inmarsat, and Globalstar are the largest satellite IoT network operators today,” says Johan Fagerberg, principal analyst at Berg Insight.
Iridium grew its subscriber base by 20% in the last year and reached the number one spot serving 1,5-million subscribers.
Originally a dedicated satellite operator, Orbcomm has transitioned into an end-to-end solution provider delivering services on its own satellite network as well as being a reseller partner of Inmarsat and others. At the end of Q4 2022, the company had 1,1-million satellite IoT subscribers on its own and Inmarsat’s networks.
At the same time, Globalstar reached 0,44-million subscribers.
Other players with connections in the tens of thousands include, for example, Myriota in Australia, Kineis in France, and Thuraya in the UAE.
In addition to the incumbent satellite operators, a number of new initiatives have appeared on the market recently. Examples of some high-profile projects are Astrocast, AST SpaceMobile, CASC/CASIC, E-Space, Fleet Space Technologies, Hubble Network, Kepler Communications, Kineis, Ligado Networks, Lynk, Myriota, Omnispace, Skylo, Swarm Technologies (SpaceX) and Totum.
Many of these are based on low-earth orbit nano satellite concepts. While some rely on proprietary satellite connectivity technologies to support IoT devices, several are starting to leverage terrestrial wireless IoT connectivity technologies including OQ Technology, AST SpaceMobile, Omnispace, Sateliot, Galaxy Space, Ligado Networks, Lynk, Skylo and Starlink (3GPP 4G/5G), as well as EchoStar Mobile, Fossa Systems, Lacuna Space, Innova Space, Eutelsat (LoRaWAN), and Hubble Network (Bluetooth).
“Collaborations between satellite operators and mobile operators that explore new hybrid satellite-terrestrial connectivity opportunities will become common in the coming years and recent examples include Telefónica and Sateliot, Deutsche Telekom and Intelsat/Skylo, and Soracom and Astrocast,” says Fagerberg.