Satellite industry growth to continue despite challenges

Prospects for the satellite industry will remain favourable over the decade in a variety of areas, according to Euroconsult studies. The next ten years should see continued growth for commercial markets, while at the same time stagnating growth for government spending should be expected at least through mid-decade. Euroconsult forecasts that the Mobile Satellite Services (MSS) market will grow at nearly 13 percent per year on average, from 2.4 million terminals in service in 2010 to 7.8 million by 2020. Low-data rate machine-to-machine (M2M) devices will have a significant share in this subscriber growth while their contribution to service revenues will remain limited. Researchers estimate that 1,145 satellites will be built for launch from 2011 to 2020, 51 percent more satellites than in the previous decade. Revenues from the manufacture and launch of these 1,145 satellites will be worth USD 196 billion worldwide, of which 70 percent can be attributed to government demand. Researchers forecast that 203 commercial communications satellites with a market value of USD 50 billion will be launched into the GEO arc over the next ten years. Some of these satellites were recorded in satellite manufacturers' order books during the flurry of ordering activity over the past five years. Commercial satellite services outside the geostationary orbit will get a boost over the next decade with a total of 165 satellites to be built and launched into medium and low Earth orbits (MEO and LEO). However, government space activities are entering a stagnation phase following years of continuous expansion during the last decade. Earth observation (EO) remains a driving factor for the space industry with USD 8 billion spent by government civil and defence agencies worldwide in 2011. EO commercial data sales are due to grow by 12 percent on average per year over the decade, reaching nearly USD 4 billion by 2020 with very high resolution datasets dominant.