Browse Category

NASDAQ:VSAT News 9 June 2025 - 20 June 2025

Space Showdown: How Military Satellites Are Shaping the Ukraine‑Russia War

Space Showdown: How Military Satellites Are Shaping the Ukraine‑Russia War

SpaceX deployed 5,000 Starlink terminals to Ukraine within days of the 2022 invasion, rising to about 15,000 active terminals by June 2022, with Ukraine at one point accounting for roughly 58% of global Starlink traffic. Russia attempted to jam Starlink signals on the battlefield, SpaceX rolled a software update to bypass the jamming, and by 2023–2024 reports noted illicit Starlink terminals in Russian hands that had to be disabled. On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a cyberattack against Viasat’s KA-SAT network that crippled thousands of Ukrainian modems and disrupted satellite links across Europe. In August 2022, Ukraine crowdfunded $20 million
Sky Wars: The Satellite Arms Race—Government and Military Satcom Procurement Trends 2025–2035

Sky Wars: The Satellite Arms Race—Government and Military Satcom Procurement Trends 2025–2035

Global government and military Satcom spending is projected to grow about 7–10% annually, rising from roughly $50 billion in 2024 to $64 billion by 2030. The Ukraine conflict underscored Satcom’s importance, with Starlink keeping forces online for combat and coalition operations. Militaries are shifting to enterprise Satcom architectures that blend military and commercial satellites across LEO, MEO, and GEO into a single resilient network. Australia canceled its $5 billion Lockheed Martin GEO program (JP9102) in 2024 to pursue a distributed multi-orbit solution for greater survivability. The U.S. Space Force’s Proliferated LEO (PLEO) contract expanded from a $900 million ceiling to
18 June 2025
State of Internet Access in Guatemala: From City Wi-Fi to Satellite Lifelines

State of Internet Access in Guatemala: From City Wi-Fi to Satellite Lifelines

4G LTE coverage is extensive, reaching about 91% of the population in 2024, while 3G coverage reaches about 95%. In 2023, SIT held spectrum auctions that raised about $176 million in total: 126 MHz in the 2.5 GHz band brought in about $49 million (with Tigo $32 million and Claro $17 million) and a later 700 MHz tender raised about $127 million. Starlink officially launched in Guatemala in June 2024 with the Starlink Mini kit priced around Q1,600 ($200) and monthly plans of Q510–560 ($65–72), delivering speeds of 100–200 Mbps with latency of 20–50 ms. As of early 2024, about
Space-Based 5G Backhaul: The Billion-Dollar Race to Orbit 5G (2024–2031)

Space-Based 5G Backhaul: The Billion-Dollar Race to Orbit 5G (2024–2031)

Starlink’s upfront CapEx was estimated at about $10 billion and later as high as $30 billion, SpaceX launched over 8,000 Starlink satellites with about 4,000 in operation by April 2025, and the service exceeded 5 million subscribers worldwide by 2025. Amazon’s Project Kuiper is a $10 billion plan for a 3,236-satellite constellation, with 27 production satellites launched by April 2025 and a requirement to have 1,618 satellites in operation by July 2026 under its FCC license. Telesat Lightspeed plans 198 satellites, has secured roughly $2.54 billion in funding, aims to launch by mid-2026 and deliver global service by around 2027,
2025 Satellite Internet Showdown: Starlink vs Viasat vs HughesNet vs OneWeb & More

2025 Satellite Internet Showdown: Starlink vs Viasat vs HughesNet vs OneWeb & More

Starlink (SpaceX) is a LEO constellation (~4,500 satellites) delivering residential speeds ~100–250 Mbps down / 10–20 Mbps up, business up to ~350–400 Mbps, with a median latency ~45 ms in Q1 2025 and no hard data caps, employing a Fair Use Policy that deprioritizes after 1 TB. HughesNet Jupiter-3 (GEO) upgrade in 2024–25 offers 50–100 Mbps down (about 3 Mbps up), with latency ~600–700 ms, Fusion hybrid areas lowering latency, and a 24-month contract with equipment lease around $14.99/month or $299–$449 purchase, dish ~0.74 m, Wi‑Fi 6 modem, and 100–200 GB Priority Data per month plus 2 AM–8 AM unmetered
D2D Gold Rush: The Race to Own the Sky-to-Phone Future (2025–2033)

D2D Gold Rush: The Race to Own the Sky-to-Phone Future (2025–2033)

In April 2023, AST SpaceMobile’s BlueWalker 3 demonstrated the first two-way voice call from an off-the-shelf smartphone (Samsung Galaxy S22) to a satellite. In November 2022, Apple launched Emergency SOS via Satellite on iPhone 14 using Globalstar, with the service free for two years. In September 2022, Lynk Global received the FCC license for commercial satellite-direct-to-phone services, enabling a 10-satellite initial constellation for SMS. 3GPP Release 17, frozen in 2022, formally added Non-Terrestrial Networks support so standard 5G devices can connect to satellites with adjusted timing and error correction. In 2024, Viasat and BSNL demonstrated two-way SMS connectivity using a
The GEO Reboot: How 2040 Will Look from 36,000 km Up

The GEO Reboot: How 2040 Will Look from 36,000 km Up

By 2040, analysts expect the global GEO replacement rate to be 10–15 new satellites per year, totaling about 200 GEO satellites from 2024 to 2040 and replacing most of today’s roughly 350-satellite fleet. A typical GEO satellite is designed for about 15 years, but all-electric propulsion and on-orbit servicing can push operational life to 20–30 years, as shown by MEV extensions of Intelsat-901 and 10-02 in 2020–2021. NASA is phasing out the dedicated TDRS relay fleet by the mid-2030s and shifting to commercial SATCOM services from providers such as SpaceX, SES, Viasat, and Inmarsat, with NASA stopping new TDRS users
In-Flight Wi-Fi Takes Off: The Sky-High Race for Satellite Connectivity 2024–2030

In-Flight Wi-Fi Takes Off: The Sky-High Race for Satellite Connectivity 2024–2030

Euroconsult projects the number of IFC-equipped aircraft worldwide will grow from about 9,900 in 2021 to over 21,000 by 2030. SpaceX Starlink, an LEO system with more than 4,000 satellites by 2024, has contracts to equip over 2,000 aircraft by early 2025 and can deliver up to 350 Mbps per aircraft with installation times of 8–10 hours. OneWeb completed a 618-satellite constellation in 2023, merged with Eutelsat to form a multi-orbit offering, and began aviation service in 2023–2024 with Panasonic Discover Airlines projects by 2025. Viasat and Inmarsat provide a global Ka-band GEO network after merger, with ViaSat-3 entering service
Telecommunications Infrastructure in Ukraine (2022–2025): Destruction and Resilience

Telecommunications Infrastructure in Ukraine (2022–2025): Destruction and Resilience

Overview: Types of Infrastructure Targeted Ukraine’s telecommunications network encompasses a wide range of critical infrastructure that has come under attack since 2022. These include: Together, these attacks have aimed to sever Ukraine’s connectivity – both civilian communications and military command links – by dismantling the physical pillars of the internet, phone, and broadcast systems. The following sections detail the timeline of destruction, the regional impacts, and how Ukraine has kept communications running against the odds. Chronology of Major Damage (2022–2025) People examine the wreckage of a broadcasting tower destroyed by a Russian missile strike in Kharkiv (April 2024) euronews.com. Critical telecom
Rural Broadband Revolution: Satellite Internet’s Sky-High Growth (2024–2030)

Rural Broadband Revolution: Satellite Internet’s Sky-High Growth (2024–2030)

The global satellite broadband market was roughly $5–9 billion in 2023 and is forecast to reach about $24–23 billion by 2030, with an annual CAGR of 14–30%. North America led in 2023 with about 32% of revenues, while Asia-Pacific (~15%), Europe (~14%), Latin America (~12.5%), and Middle East & Africa (~12%) are forecast to grow fastest. By 2030, North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific are each projected to be in the $6–7+ billion range, with Latin America and MEA contributing several hundred million USD. In 2023 the regional revenues were North America $2,966.1 M, Europe $2,435.0 M, Asia–Pacific $2,264.6 M, Latin
Bandwidth Wars: The High-Stakes Battle for High-Throughput Satellite Dominance (2025–2035)

Bandwidth Wars: The High-Stakes Battle for High-Throughput Satellite Dominance (2025–2035)

HTS use numerous narrow spot-beams and on-board processing to deliver dramatically higher data rates than legacy FSS, with platforms like Boeing 702X and SES-17 featuring fully digital, reconfigurable payloads. HTS constellations can deliver terabits of capacity worldwide to power broadband, backhaul, IoT and government networks. Modern HTS platforms operate primarily in Ku/Ka-bands and increasingly in V/Q/KuL bands to support mobility. In aviation, Ka-band GEO and LEO HTS provide in-flight connectivity on thousands of passenger aircraft, with SES-17 Ka-band HTS expected to meet exponential airline connectivity needs. On-the-move broadband can deliver gigabit links to moving antennas for military, emergency-response and commercial
Sky Is No Limit: Global Satcom Market Set to Soar Through 2035

Sky Is No Limit: Global Satcom Market Set to Soar Through 2035

In 2024 the global space economy reached $415 billion, with commercial satellite activities totaling about $293 billion (71%). The number of active satellites rose from about 3,300 in 2020 to over 11,500 by end-2024 due to mega-constellations. SpaceX and OneWeb have joined traditional players like Airbus, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Thales Alenia, Intelsat, SES, Eutelsat, and Inmarsat, intensifying competition. By 2035 the global satcom market could exceed $500 billion, more than 5× its 2024 size. The satellite internet access market is forecast to grow from $14.6 billion in 2024 to $312.3 billion by 2035, a ~32% CAGR, driven by Starlink and
Go toTop