Satellite operators pushed back on the narrative that Starlink dominates the satcom market during SATELLITE 2025’s Opening General Session on March 11. SES CEO Adel Al-Saleh said: “There is a narrative in the market that every time Starlink wins a deal, it’s amplified. Yet if you look at the performance of every company here — we’re all winning our fair share of big deals. The narrative is just wrong.” He pointed to the cruise market where SES and Starlink coexist on every large cruise line: “We share that market share between the two of us, we’re both growing.”
Intelsat CEO David Wajsgras previewed upcoming IFC contract announcements with two international airlines, highlighted momentum in smart agriculture (CNH tractors, in final testing phases in Brazil and the U.S.), and said Intelsat is set to announce a border security contract in Cochise County, Arizona: “I think that’s going to be a very big deal for the company.” He also said multi-orbit requirements are appearing in more new RFPs across multiple verticals.
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Hughes COO Paul Gaske said its Fusion technology blends GEO, LEO, and 5G to optimize user experience — a philosophy Hughes calls “multi-transport” rather than multi-orbit. The approach is powering a follow-on Delta Air Lines IFC deal.
Telesat CEO Dan Goldberg said Lightspeed is fully underway with MDA Space and targeting first launch in the second half of 2026: “There’s massive surging demand for high quality, affordable, resilient, secure, low latency, broadband connectivity. We see a massive market opportunity.”
Eutelsat CEO Eva Berneke challenged the supply chain on industrialization: “It’s a bit of a crime. Our engineers have been spending a lot more time expanding the scope and capabilities rather than bringing down the cost. We need to get into an industrialized setting of producing multiple satellites.”
Viasat CEO Mark Dankberg outlined a proliferated GEO architecture vision: a single, agnostic GEO platform that can be built repeatedly and placed in any orbital slot to match traffic demand — at tens of millions rather than hundreds of millions per satellite. VS
