A standing-room-only multi-orbit panel at SATELLITE 2025 featured executives from Intelsat, Eutelsat, Viasat, and Paradigm debating the future of satellite broadband. When asked to rate terminal development and multi-orbit service progress, scores were at best average.
Eutelsat America Corp/OneWeb Technologies President and CEO Ian Canning rated terminal development 4 out of 10: “I think we are in for a really exciting time in terms of capability in the next six months or so. We have got much further to go.” Intelsat CCO Mike DeMarco gave 6 out of 10. Viasat CTO Steve Gizinski gave only 3. Paradigm Communications MD Ulf Sandberg rated it 3 or 4.
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Multi-orbit services fared slightly better — Gizinski raised his mark to 6 and DeMarco to 7. DeMarco said Intelsat will have 700 planes with its multi-orbit ESA by year-end: “We have moved from being a satellite operator and selling bandwidth, to now being a managed service provider. The customers don’t care how you are doing it.” He highlighted investments in Greenerwave and hiSky to lead on antenna development.
Canning said multi-orbit is ultimately about end-to-end service: “One size does not fit all. There is an awful lot of opportunity for all of us.” But he stressed that customer expectations for resilience and reliability are non-negotiable.
Gizinski flagged power consumption as a key challenge: “These ESAs can be very power hungry. We need improvements there.” Sandberg called for customer impatience to drive change: “We want impatience from our partners. Customers should not have to wait three to four years for a solution.”
On Ukraine’s reliance on Starlink, Canning cautioned: “You should never be fully reliant on one service. Multi-orbit could have an impact there so you could deliver a total capability to the customer. Ukraine has taught all of us a lot. Jamming has become a real thing there.” VS
