By Chris Forrester
Jean-Hubert Lenotte (Director Strategies & Resources, Eutelsat) explained that in the 11 years that he had been in the industry, progress has been incredible in the smallsat sector. We see significant growth in our industry. The cost of capacity, ten years ago, was €5 million per gigabit. Now it is barely €1 million. That reduction in cost will continue and this will open up new opportunities. This will continue. Look at Starlink today, where there’s a very good service provided at a very competitive price.
The problems in Ukraine, not only in primary use but as back-up, show us what this represents. However, today’s revenue is miniscule compared to ground-based systems. But demand will certainly be present.
We firmly believe there will only be a few players in this market. We see 2 or 3 in Ku, and 2 or 3 in Ka-band. What is NOT easy is the establishment of a true global service, including the Earth stations, plus connectivity, is not easy. Sending the satellites up into orbit is, in many regards, the easier part of the task.
Lenotte explained that Eutelsat’s OneWeb division was already supporting B2B clients, as well as crucial help to Ukraine. He forecast that there would be significant growth for OneWeb (“triple digit growth”) this year.
He added that IRIS2 would add to Eutelsat’s bandwidth. Europe is very much present in space, and we need and require a sovereign presence in Europe, and needed for our independence in places like Ukraine.