Throughout SATELLITE 2017, a major point heralded by speakers was the need to cooperate to ensure the satellite industry’s survival. In that respect, Tuesday’s closing general session featured an international gamut of satellite CEOs in a much different feel — the tension on stage was palpable as speakers clashed on different ways to address global connectivity.
For Tom Choi, CEO of ABS, OneWeb’s LEO focus seems like folly. “That LEO network is traversing around the Earth every two hours … A third of the time it’s going to be above or below the Arctic circle, so you’re throwing away a third of your capacity immediately. Seventy percent of the Earth is water. There are no people there.”
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OneWeb CEO Eric Beranger objected, highlighting his company’s goal of bringing connectivity to the 4 billion people on the dark side of the digital divide. “Once OneWeb is there, anybody anywhere on earth or on the oceans or in the air can have exactly the same experience using broadband internet as if we were sitting in an office or at home.”
Hughes President Pradman Kaul said: “We don’t expect to compete with 5G. Our approach is to find underserved homes and serve them. In the United States, there are 18 million households that don’t have fiber or cable.”
Khalid Balkheyour, CEO of Arabsat, said: “I think it will have a future. I expect some market share will be given to the LEOs and taken from the GEOs. We don’t want to miss the boat.”
Hispasat CEO Carlos Espinos Gomez was also wary: “Satellite is not the right technology to compete against fiber optics or 5G; we have to become complementary.”
Masood Sharif Mahmood, CEO of Yahsat, concluded that profitability remains paramount. “To me, looking at lessons from other sectors, at the end you need to make a return.” VS
