Today: 10 November 2025
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Mateusz Kaczmarek

A technology and finance expert writing for TS2.tech. He analyzes developments in satellites, telecommunications, and artificial intelligence, with a focus on their impact on global markets. Author of industry reports and market commentary, often cited in tech and business media. Passionate about innovation and the digital economy.

The Space Race for the Internet: Inside the Billion-Dollar Satellite Mega-Constellation Boom

The Space Race for the Internet: Inside the Billion-Dollar Satellite Mega-Constellation Boom

As of mid-2025, Starlink operates about 7,500 active satellites, the largest fleet in history, accounting for more than 60% of all active satellites. Starlink’s next-generation satellites (v2) weigh about 800 kg each, vs 260 kg for v1, and use inter-satellite laser links to route data across continents. Amazon’s Project Kuiper plans 3,236 LEO satellites at roughly 600 km altitude, with more than $10 billion invested, the first 27 operational satellites launched in April 2025, and a target to deploy half the constellation by July 2026. OneWeb completed its Gen1 constellation with 618 of 648 satellites in 1,200 km polar orbits
5 June 2025
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Inside America’s Silent Sentinels: The Untold Story of GSSAP in Space Surveillance

Inside America’s Silent Sentinels: The Untold Story of GSSAP in Space Surveillance

GSSAP-1 and GSSAP-2 were launched on July 28, 2014 aboard a Delta IV M+(4,2) from Cape Canaveral, accompanied by the ANGELS experimental satellite. The GSSAP satellites operate in near-geosynchronous orbit roughly 35,900 km (22,300 miles) above Earth and function as a “neighborhood watch” for the GEO belt, providing space situational awareness to USSPACECOM. Built by Northrop Grumman on the GeoStar-1 bus, GSSAP satellites are three-axis stabilized and carry high-resolution optical sensors capable of rendezvous and proximity operations with other GEO objects. Each GSSAP spacecraft carries limited onboard propellant, meaning its maneuvering life spans only a few years before it must
5 June 2025
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Mega-Constellations Exposed: How Swarms of Tiny Satellites Are Taking Over Low Earth Orbit

“No Signal? No Problem!” – Next‑Gen Satellite Phones Set to Change Everything

In 2022, Apple’s iPhone 14 introduced Emergency SOS via satellite, later expanded in the iPhone 15 to support satellite texting via Globalstar. In April 2023, AST SpaceMobile’s BlueWalker 3 demonstrated a two-way 4G call using a standard smartphone on Earth with a 64 m² satellite antenna. Lynk Global demonstrated the first direct satellite text to an unmodified phone in 2022 and is partnering with mobile operators in over 40 countries to fill coverage dead zones. SpaceX’s Starlink Direct to Cell uses 2023-generation satellites with advanced antennas to connect to ordinary phones via terrestrial bands, with a plan to offer basic
5 June 2025
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Orbiting at Zero Speed: How Geostationary Satellites Rule Global Communications

Orbiting at Zero Speed: How Geostationary Satellites Rule Global Communications

Geostationary orbit sits at about 35,786 km above the equator and completes a sidereal day (~23h56m), so satellites appear fixed over one longitude; Arthur C. Clarke popularized it in 1945, giving the region the nickname the Clarke Belt. A GEO satellite remains stationary relative to the ground, allowing ground antennas to point at a fixed spot without tracking. Three GEO satellites spaced roughly 120° apart can provide near-global coverage, excluding polar regions. Syncom 2, launched in 1963, reached a geosynchronous orbit with a slight inclination, while Syncom 3, launched in 1964, was placed over the equator with zero inclination and
5 June 2025
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Connected Canada: A Comprehensive Look at Internet Access in 2025

Connected Canada: A Comprehensive Look at Internet Access in 2025

By early 2025, about 93.5% of Canadian households have access to high‑speed internet (50 Mbps down/10 Mbps up), up from 79% in 2014. The Universal Broadband Fund (UBF) started in 2020 with a $3.225 billion budget and targets 98% of households with 50/10 by 2026 and 100% by 2030. Bell Canada had fiber passed to about 7.3 million premises by mid‑2023, while Telus passed more than 3.1 million premises with fiber in British Columbia and Alberta. Rogers Communications became Canada’s largest broadband provider after acquiring Shaw in 2023, serving roughly 7 million internet customers, with the combined Rogers/Shaw passing about
5 June 2025
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Mega-Constellations Exposed: How Swarms of Tiny Satellites Are Taking Over Low Earth Orbit

Mega-Constellations Exposed: How Swarms of Tiny Satellites Are Taking Over Low Earth Orbit

By 2024, small satellites accounted for over 95% of all satellites launched annually. SpaceX’s Starlink operates the world’s largest constellation with over 7,000 active satellites in orbit as of late 2024. Starlink’s initial shell consisted of about 4,400 satellites at roughly 550 km altitude and 53° inclination, with FCC approval for about 12,000 satellites and potential expansion to 42,000. Iridium uses 86.4° near-polar orbits in six planes at ~780 km to achieve global coverage including polar regions. OneWeb’s Gen1 network aimed for ~1,200 km orbit with ~86–87° inclination and had deployed 618 satellites by March 2023, before merging with Eutelsat
5 June 2025
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How Satellite Internet Is Revolutionizing Disaster Response and Humanitarian Relief

How Satellite Internet Is Revolutionizing Disaster Response and Humanitarian Relief

Hurricane Maria in 2017 damaged 95% of cell towers in Puerto Rico, leaving the island largely without phone service. SpaceX’s Starlink uses a low-Earth-orbit (LEO) satellite constellation of hundreds to thousands of satellites, lowering latency to about 20–40 ms with ~600 ms for geostationary satellites. Starlink can deliver 100–200 Mbps per user, versus about 25 Mbps on legacy satellite links. Ground terminals are plug-and-play, roughly pizza-box-sized dishes that require only a power source and a clear view of the sky to connect. In Ukraine since 2022, SpaceX shipped thousands of Starlink terminals, with tens of thousands in operation, becoming essential
4 June 2025
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Internet Access in Cameroon: The Race to Connect a Nation

Internet Access in Cameroon: The Race to Connect a Nation

As of early 2025, about 12.4 million Cameroonians were internet users, representing 41.9% of the population. As of 2024, roughly 60% of Cameroonians live in urban areas, with internet access heavily concentrated in cities and rural areas almost inaccessible. Cameroon’s fiber backbone extends over 12,000 kilometers and is connected to five landfall cables: SAT-3, WACS, ACE, SAIL, and NCSCS, with SAIL linking Kribi to Brazil. Plans are underway to add more than 4,000 kilometers of fiber, expanding the backbone to about 17,000–22,000 km and improving regional redundancy. The mobile market is dominated by Orange Cameroon (about 11.7 million subscribers, 39.6%
4 June 2025
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When the Grid Goes Dark: How Satellite Phones Keep Us Connected in Emergencies

When the Grid Goes Dark: How Satellite Phones Keep Us Connected in Emergencies

Iridium operates 66 active LEO satellites in a cross-linked constellation, providing truly global coverage including the poles. Inmarsat uses 3–4 GEO satellites at about 36,000 km altitude to cover most of the globe from roughly 70°N to 70°S, and its IsatPhone 2 offers 8 hours of talk time. Globalstar runs about 48 LEO satellites to provide regional coverage (roughly 50°N to 50°S) with the Globalstar GSP-1700 handset. Thuraya uses two GEO satellites, with Thuraya 4-NGS launched in 2025 to expand service across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and Australia, while it does not cover the Americas. Geostationary satellite networks
4 June 2025
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Inside the Sky Shield: How Secure Is Your Satellite Internet?

Inside the Sky Shield: How Secure Is Your Satellite Internet?

Satellite internet data travels from your dish to a satellite, then to a gateway and onto the internet, with traditional GEO orbits at about 35,786 km and newer systems like SpaceX Starlink using low Earth orbit swarms and inter-satellite laser links. Geostationary (GEO) latency is roughly 500–700 ms for a round trip, while Starlink’s low Earth orbit (LEO) latency is about 20–40 ms, impacting secure handshakes such as TLS. Signals require line-of-sight, and because satellite beams cover broad areas, adversaries can jam or disrupt links from within the footprint with a powerful transmitter. Unencrypted satellite downlinks can be intercepted since
4 June 2025
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Satellite vs Fiber Internet: The 2025 Latency & Bandwidth Showdown

Satellite vs Fiber Internet: The 2025 Latency & Bandwidth Showdown

Fiber-optic broadband latency is typically a few milliseconds on local networks, with total latency to nearby servers generally in the 10–30 ms range. Geostationary satellites sit about 22,000 miles (35,000 km) above Earth, producing round-trip latencies of roughly 600–650 ms. Starlink uses a low-Earth orbit constellation, delivering typical latencies of about 20–50 ms and, by mid-2025, operating with nearly 7,000 satellites and over 1.4 million active US subscribers. Starlink typical download speeds are 50–150 Mbps (up to 200+ Mbps in ideal conditions) with uploads of 5–20 Mbps. Fiber gigabit plans are widely available, and many providers offer 2 Gbps, 5
4 June 2025
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The Sky Connect: How Satellite Internet Is Revolutionizing Rural and Remote Life

The Sky Connect: How Satellite Internet Is Revolutionizing Rural and Remote Life

LEO satellites orbit at roughly 500–1,200 km, delivering latency of about 20–50 ms and broadband speeds comparable to terrestrial networks, versus GEO’s ~600 ms latency. SpaceX Starlink has launched over 7,000 satellites since 2019, provides coverage in about 130 countries, had more than 4 million subscribers by late 2024, and offers 50–200 Mbps to rural homes with a pizza-box–sized dish. OneWeb has 618 active LEO satellites with global coverage achieved in early 2023, merged with Europe’s Eutelsat in 2022, and now focuses on enterprise and government backhaul rather than consumer services. ViaSat-3 consists of three GEO high-throughput satellites launched in
3 June 2025
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