Up until recent years, satellite had occupied a niche corner of the telecommunications ecosystem in people’s minds. It was widely considered the go-to connectivity tool for rural regions, maritime endeavours, and for those adventuring into the remotest parts of the world.
Now, it has become a strategic component of mainstream telecommunications infrastructure, and an increasingly vital part of service providers’ portfolios.
Keenly aware of this transition is Olivier Gommes, CP of technology and innovation for Marlink. As a trusted managed network service provider, Marlink has crafted its art: building connectivity resilience by partnering with telcos to deliver satellite and hybrid services.
As satellite moves from a niche to a necessity, many operators are left asking: how does the technology work, and how do I pick the right one for my clients?
Customer needs are changing
While most conversations were centred on remote connectivity a few years ago, demand now comes from a broader range of customers and use cases.
“For telcos, satellite has become something customers increasingly expect to see as part of a connectivity portfolio,” Gommes told Capacity.
“Enterprise customers are asking about resilience, back-up connectivity, rapid site deployment and extending connectivity into locations where terrestrial services aren’t always practical.”
However, service providers are also reluctant to manage the overhead of every satellite, operator, technology roadmap, and certification process. Nor do they want to deal with the model support. Gommes said that providers are looking for a simpler way to bring the services to market, making room for companies like Marlink to sit in the middle.
These companies operate between the satellite ecosystem and the service provider, enabling multiple networks and technologies to come together. This creates a single, integrated service that provides connectivity to customers with a simpler process behind it.
But before we can reach this point, a service provider needs to consider the needs of its customers. Each customer’s business has different needs. Some are focused on resilience or security; others are focused on application performance. In Gommes’ experience, customers are increasingly asking for a balance of all three.
“One of the advantages of the market today is that there are more options available than ever before. Different constellations, different orbits and different service models all have a role to play. From a service provider perspective, that means flexibility matters more than ever.”
Marlink has delved into flexibility. The provider is agnostic to satellite technology, operators, constellations, or orbital architectures. Companies with this setup are geared around tackling problems on a case-by-case basis, to provide the best solution.
It’s important to note that the requirements are part of the wider digital environment, rather than in isolation, said Gommes, which means choices should be made mindfully.
He explained: “Connectivity, network performance, cyber security, cloud and IT, and applications are increasingly interdependent, so decisions in one area can have implications across the others.”
Customer needs have also shifted as recently as the last 12 months. In a year, satellite has moved from isolated deployments and trials into large-scale production environments that support thousands of locations worldwide. This is due to service providers starting to incorporate satellite into their offerings and strategies.
“We’ve also seen a significant increase in market awareness. Customers and partners have become far more informed about the different options available to them and are actively evaluating how multiple technologies can work together.”
This market awareness has also turned into excitement as the next generation of satellite services starts to rise: “The level of interest we see around new LEO constellations and emerging technologies demonstrates just how mainstream the conversation has become.
Gommes continued: “With more LEO options becoming available through Starlink, OneWeb’s expansion and Amazon Leo on the horizon, satellite capacity plays a key role in ensuring a reliable LTE 4G/5G link.”
Don’t get lost in the weeds.
For Gommes, a common mistake providers make is focusing purely on the connectivity product rather than the operational model behind it: “A service like Starlink can appear very straightforward initially, but enterprise-scale deployments quickly introduce additional requirements around billing, logistics, network integration, security, installation, support, and service management.”
As enterprise customers expect those requirements as standard, Gommes explained that service providers can benefit from working with managed service partners that handle the complexities backstage.
The technology is becoming as complicated as it is cutting-edge, which, for Gommes, means that service providers should avoid compromising customer service in favour of platform management.
Satellite’s development is becoming mainstream news in the connectivity scene, which signals great things for the technology over the next few years. Gommes explained some of his takes on satellite’s future, highlighting the benefits it has on the rest of the ecosystem.
“We’ll continue to see strong uptake for enterprise connectivity, particularly where resilience and rapid deployment are important. Just as importantly, satellite will play a growing role in protecting network infrastructure and supporting business continuity strategies.”
Gommes additionally noted that ongoing conversations surrounding subsea cable resilience have demonstrated the need for diverse, independent connectivity paths. Satellite provides that option, and with it the ability to reinforce terrestrial networks as a complementary piece of infrastructure.
Overall, satellite is not a technology to be ignored or dismissed. As connectivity becomes progressively critical to everyday life and business operations – especially in the business-centric areas of Europe – secure and reinforced telecommunications networks are vital investments.
Because of this, satellite provides a business opportunity for telcos – one which may become indispensable as the digital revolution accelerates.
Olivier Gommes will be taking part in Snapshot Presentations: Key developments shaping Europe’s digital infrastructure at Capacity Europe alongside other digital infrastructure experts.
Register to join an estimated 4,000 decision-makers in London (13 – 15 October) and connect with industry leaders across fibre, data centres, cloud, and AI infrastructure.
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Source: capacityglobal.com
