Where AI is Paying Off for Satellite Service Providers
By Robert Bell
New York City, January 3, 2025 - In just the past two years, investors and companies have dropped US$56 billion on generative AI technology and projects. That’s a lot of cash when you consider what 2,500 top executives surveyed by the Boston Consulting Group and MIT had to say. “Seven out of ten said their AI projects had generated little impact so far. Two-fifths of those with ‘significant investments’ in AI had yet to report any benefits at all.”
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It's early days for the technology, of course. It took decades for investment in IT to demonstrate a return, yet no one today would seriously argue that IT is a failed experiment. Still, the road to AI nirvana continues to be littered with potholes, from the Microsoft MYCity chatbot that encouraged business owners to cheat their employees to McDonald’s three-year experiment with AI order-taking that drove its customers batty.
Fortunately, for the satellite service sector, AI is already achieving gains that executives value, and they expect more to come, as described in the World Teleport Association report, AI in the Teleport: The Next Bubble or the Next Great Innovation?
Impact in Multiple Areas
Generative or “Gen” AI uses machine learning models to learn patterns from large amounts of data. It then uses these patterns to predict what would come next in a sequence, such as a word, sound, or pixel. Put that way, it sounds simple, but it is equipping computers to effectively learn human and programming languages, art, science and pop culture, and to apply what it has learned to solving new problems (when it is not hallucinating the answers).
At teleport and satellite operators, Gen AI is delivering positive results for users in business areas such as marketing and customer relations and also making inroads in more technical areas such as assisting with code development and cybersecurity. As AI capabilities continue to evolve and the teleport sector become more comfortable with AI, there will be improvements in areas such as antenna scheduling, interference detection and predictive equipment monitoring.
Along with enhancing operations across multiple existing teleport offerings, there are new companies that credit their existence to advancements in AI. The technology is opening up new opportunities in areas such as data compression and the application of hyper-accurate weather forecasting to teleport operations and network designs.
How to Integrate AI
Teleport companies are building their own AI systems and services due to decades of experience working with machine learning technology. But for incorporating AI services in broader business services, such as marketing and cybersecurity, there are numerous third parties that can help set up AI operations, including the biggest names in technology such as Amazon and Microsoft.
As with many technologies, the success of AI depends on good data. The teleport sector has plenty of data to provide these systems, but executives caution that formatting the data can be a challenge, and companies should also retain strict control of their data while working with third parties.
"...Teleport companies are building their own AI systems and services due to decades of experience working with machine learning technology..."
Selling Services, Not AI
The impacts of AI are still emerging in the satellite services sector. But one thing is unlikely to change. Teleport and satellite operators are not selling AI to their customers. Instead, they are using AI as intellectual capital in the same way as investments and employees – deployed where companies think it will have the best impact. Are customers impressed by AI? Maybe. But they are definitely impressed by the benefits of new services that AI provides and the operational and cost improvements it delivers.
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Robert Bell is the executive director of the World Teleport Association (www.worldteleport.org), which conducts research into the teleport and satellite industry, provides a unified voice for teleport operators and offers Teleport Certification programs to service providers. AI in the the Teleport is available for free to members and for sale to non-members at https://www.worldteleport.org/store/viewproduct.aspx?id=24498105. He can be reached at: rbell@worldteleport.org
