Technology News 6 June 2025

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

9 June 2025

Internet Access in Comoros: From Island Gaps to Satellite Signals

The Union of the Comoros comprises Grande Comore (Ngazidja), Anjouan (Ndzuwani), Mohéli (Mwali) and the Mayotte territory, with island geography that complicates terrestrial network rollout. Submarine cables have transformed connectivity: EASSy landed in Moroni in 2010–2011, AVASSA was completed in 2016, and FLY-LION3 landed at Itsandra, Moroni in 2019, creating three major international links. Internally, AVASSA connects Grande Comore and Anjouan (Mohéli is linked by microwave), while a Comoros Domestic Cable System (CDCS) is planned and Comoros Cables manages open wholesale access for both carriers. Fixed broadband remains scarce, with about 3,000 fixed broadband subscriptions in 2023 (roughly 0.3 per

7 June 2025

Comoros · Connectivity · Internet · Satellites · Technology

No Signal: The Shocking Digital Divide in the DRC and the Race to Connect Millions

The Democratic Republic of the Congo has a population of over 100 million, but only about 27% were using the internet in early 2024, leaving roughly 75 million offline. <li Internet users rose from 1.4 million in 2013 to 28.9 million in 2023, with mobile internet subscribers jumping about 40% over three years. <li As of 2025, only 9,361 km of fiber has been laid, far short of the 50,000 km target in Horizon 2025, covering about 19% of the plan. <li The DRC’s four major mobile operators—Vodacom, Airtel, Orange, and Africell—dominate the market, with 3G/4G in major cities and

7 June 2025

Africa · Connectivity · Digital Divide · Internet Access · Technology

Sky Scanners: How SAR Imaging Satellites Are Redefining Earth Observation

About 75% of the planet is obscured by cloud cover or darkness at any moment, making optical imaging inaccessible. Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellites actively illuminate the ground with microwave radar and synthesize a large aperture by moving the antenna to produce high-resolution images. SAR can operate day or night and in all weather, providing 24/7 imaging. Sentinel-1 (ESA) comprises satellites Sentinel-1A launched in 2014 and Sentinel-1B in 2016, with C-band SAR offering ~5 m resolution in high-resolution modes and 250–400 km swaths, and a 12-day revisit. RADARSAT-2 (Canada) launched in 2007, followed by the RADARSAT Constellation Mission (RCM) in

7 June 2025

Earth Observation · NYSE:MAXR · SAR Imaging · Satellites · Space Science · Technology

Satellite Phones: Comprehensive Global FAQ

Iridium operates about 66 LEO satellites at roughly 780 km, offering truly global coverage including the poles with a one-way latency around 0.1–0.2 seconds. Inmarsat uses 3–4 GEO satellites at about 35,786 km, delivering near-global coverage (roughly ±70° latitude) with about 0.5 second latency, and IsatPhone 2 offers up to 8 hours of talk and 160 hours of standby. Thuraya, based in the UAE, operates 2 GEO satellites covering roughly 160 countries in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and Australia, with XT-LITE priced around $650. Globalstar currently operates a Gen2 constellation of 24 LEO satellites at about 1,414 km,

7 June 2025

Connectivity · FAQ · Global Communication · Satellite Phones · Technology

Satellite Internet FAQ

Traditional GEO satellite internet sends data roughly 22,000 miles to a satellite and back, yielding a round-trip latency of about 600–800 ms. Satellite internet can reach virtually anywhere with a clear view of the sky, including most of the continental United States. HughesNet uses geostationary satellites and advertises speeds up to 25 Mbps download and about 3 Mbps upload on all plans. Viasat offers downloads from roughly 12 Mbps up to 100 Mbps with uploads around 3 Mbps. Starlink uses a low-Earth orbit constellation and typically provides 50–200 Mbps download and 20–40 Mbps upload with latency around 20–40 ms. Amazon’s

6 June 2025

Connectivity · FAQ · Internet Access · NASDAQ:AMZN · NASDAQ:SATS · NASDAQ:VSAT · Satellite Internet · Technology

Connecting Colombia: Bridging the Digital Divide from Cities to the Amazon

As of early 2025, 41.1 million Colombians were internet users, representing about 77% of the population. By 2025 Colombia had 78.3 million cellular mobile connections in service, roughly 147% of the population. The urban–rural gap remains wide: 63.9% of households had internet in 2023, 28.8% of the rural population were online, and fewer than 13% of rural households had fixed internet subscriptions. Claro dominates the market with about 37% of fixed broadband subscriptions and around 45% of mobile subscribers; Movistar has ~17% fixed and ~25% mobile; Tigo ~17% fixed and ~18% mobile; WOM ~7% mobile. Starlink entered Colombia and went

6 June 2025

Colombia · Connectivity · Digital Divide · Internet · Technology

Where Satellite Phones Are Illegal?

Bangladesh bans satellite phone use; possession can lead to arrest and imprisonment. North Korea prohibits all unauthorized communication devices, foreigners must surrender phones and privacy is not guaranteed, with detention possible. India restricts satellite phones to government‑approved Inmarsat devices, requiring a license (No Objection Certificate) from the Department of Telecommunications before bringing one in. China maintains a de facto ban on private sat phones, requiring registration for limited state use and has deployed jammers in some areas to block unapproved devices. Chad bans satellite phones under any circumstances, with Thuraya explicitly outlawed and Iridium sometimes tolerated. Myanmar (Burma) effectively bans

6 June 2025

Communication · International Law · Legal Issues · Satellite Phones · Technology

Eyes in the Sky: How Satellites Are Revealing Our Changing Climate

Radar altimeters on TOPEX/Poseidon, Jason-1, Jason-2, Jason-3, and Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich have provided a global mean sea level record since 1992, showing a rise of about 3.3 millimeters per year and roughly 10 centimeters over 30 years. Arctic summer sea ice extent has declined by about 12% per decade since the 1980s, with the Arctic minimum shrinking from about 7.5 million km² in 1980 to 4.4 million km² in 2023. GRACE and GRACE-FO gravity missions have revealed that Greenland and Antarctica are losing hundreds of billions of tons of ice each year, contributing to sea level rise. NASA’s PACE mission,

6 June 2025

Climate Change · Environment · Satellites · Science · Technology

Chad’s Digital Desert: The Shocking Truth Behind the Country’s Internet Revolution

As of 2025, Chad has about 2.74 million internet users (13.2% of the population), with roughly 87% of Chadians still offline. There are about 14.5 million active mobile subscriptions in Chad (roughly 70% of the population) in 2025, with many people owning multiple SIM cards. Chad has just one Internet Exchange Point in N’Djamena, and as of 2025 about 33% of the country’s networks exchange traffic locally at DJAMIX. Fixed broadband is virtually non-existent in Chad, with zero fixed subscriptions and mobile networks providing the main internet access, where 2G covers about 85% of the population and 3G/4G only about

6 June 2025

Africa · Chad · Digital Transformation · Internet · Technology

Everything You Never Knew You Needed to Know About Differential and Precise Point Positioning

DGNSS improves GNSS accuracy by using stationary reference receivers to broadcast corrections to rovers, transforming standalone GPS accuracy from about 5–15 m to sub-meter or centimeter levels, with SBAS like WAAS (USA) and EGNOS (Europe) delivering about 1–3 m for aviation. Real-Time Kinematic (RTK) uses carrier-phase measurements and double-differencing to fix integer ambiguities, delivering centimeter-level accuracy in real time, with highest performance when the base is within about 10–20 km. Early differential GPS (DGPS) yielded about 1 meter accuracy within tens of kilometers of the base, with degradation of roughly 1 m per 150 km. Precise Point Positioning (PPP) provides

6 June 2025

GPS · Innovation · Navigation · NYSE:DE · Positioning · Technology

Internet Access in Cape Verde: Current Status and Outlook

As of early 2025, about 73.5% of Cape Verde’s population were internet users, roughly 387,000 people out of ~526,000. Fixed broadband subscriptions totaled about 38,000 in 2023, approximately 7 per 100 people. Cape Verde Telecom (CVTelecom) reported passing over 22,000 FTTH homes by the end of 2021, primarily in urban areas. There were over 600,000 mobile cellular connections active in early 2025, about 115% of the population, with 91% of connections broadband-capable (3G/4G). Total internet subscription density reached about 90 per 100 inhabitants in mid-2023, while around 73% of people were online. In early 2024, the median fixed broadband download

6 June 2025

Cape Verde · Connectivity · Infrastructure · Internet · Technology

Technology News 6 June 2025 - 9 June 2025