Satellite Backhaul Going Mainstream?

Cambridge, Mass., April 4, 2018 – NSR’s Wireless Backhaul via Satellite, 12^th Edition report, released today, forecasts annual satellite capacity revenues reaching $4 billion by 2027, serving over 3 Tbps of demand. Mobile Backhaul captures the greatest opportunities, as satellite usage increases among MNOs and becomes a widespread solution. Lower capacity prices are reviving Trunking, as new demand is emerging from previously un-addressable markets. IP Content Distribution also continued making solid progress with thousands of sites now active in this segment.
 
“Price degradation is making it hard for satellite operators to grow revenues. However, we are approaching a trigger point at which price elasticity will help demand to take off. The topology of deployments is changing radically, from serving tens of USO-driven sites to being a mainstream solution with thousands of units per network,” states Lluc Palerm, NSR Senior Analyst and report author. “If MNOs take a pragmatic approach to network deployment, and do the math, they will realize the possibilities of Satellite Backhaul. However, awareness and perceptions are still holding growth back”.
 
Progress in Ground Segment is vital to departure from the old paradigm, with NSR forecasting cumulative equipment revenues from 2017-27 to surpass $2.6 billion.  Satcom must make the solution easy for MNOs to adopt, and consequently, end-to-end services will proliferate.
 
After years of hype generation, 5G implementations are finally becoming real. Beyond extravagant network requirements, the true focus for Satcom must be in finding a way to fuse with ground networks via consolidating SDN/NFV technologies and integrating MNO operation platforms.
 
Video continues to be the “cash cow” for the satellite industry, but OTT is putting that to task. Satellite is reacting by offering VoD over satellite with some promising initial experiences. While penetrating those video ecosystems will be hard, transition to heavier formats, 5G or the ongoing Media-Telecom convergence open a window of opportunity for satcom.

Wireless Backhaul via Satellite, 12^th Edition is an industry leading analysis and forecast of 3 key market segments: Mobile Wireless Backhaul, Trunking and the newly added IP Content Distribution. The study assesses the installed base of sites in seven different regional markets, investigates trends impacting market growth, forecasts capacity and equipment revenues, and predicts satellite capacity requirements for provisioning each market vertical. Beyond classic C-, Ku- and Ka-band FSS capacity, NSR also leads the industry in forecasting use of High Throughput Satellites (HTS) segmented by band (C-, Ku- & Ka-bands) for GEO-HTS systems and assesses the impact of Non-GEO HTS constellations in the Backhaul markets. 

For additional information on this report, including a full table of contents, list of exhibits and executive summary, please visit www.nsr.com or call NSR at +1-617-674-7743.