The demand for satellite-based connectivity is expanding as governments, telcos, and enterprises look to increase their coverage. With new high-throughput satellites, LEO, and multi-orbit solutions, there are more options than ever before for using satellite connectivity. “Satellite is no longer seen as a last resort,” says Dan Losada, vice president and general manager of Hughes International.

In this interview, Losada talks about the international opportunities for Hughes, how the company is using its JUPITER System to expand connectivity around the world, and its approach to offering end-to-end solutions and managing complex networks.

VIA SATELLITE: It feels as though satellite is becoming more of an option for governments around the world as they look to connect people and enterprises. Are governments in Latin America changing their attitudes towards satellite-based connectivity?

Losada: Absolutely, the days in which satellite was the last resort and seen as the only way you could do it as it was the only option has changed. Clearly, satellite is the fastest way to get to some of the areas that are un-connected. Keep in mind in Latin America, the fixed internet penetration is still dependent on the country, around 60% on average. In order to get to the fixed connectivity targets that they have, the quickest way to get there is satellite connectivity.

If you look at the new satellites we have launched such as JUPITER 3, and the ones we had before, they have strong broadband connectivity performance. And now you have the Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) platforms coming on with a lot of capacity as well, and reaching those areas. Satellite is no longer seen as a last resort. It is viewed as a quick way but also a way of maintaining the quality that you want with that connection. There are a lot of players in the market who can help with reaching these places and very hard to reach areas, they have a lot of options in terms of deployments. I think they are looking at satellite in a different way and in a more positive way.

VIA SATELLITE: Earlier this year, Hughes shared an example of providing connectivity at hundreds of remote solar energy sites in Brazil. Could you tell us more about this and how it is a good example of your approach to provide connectivity to businesses?

Losada: In this specific project, it is not one technology, it is that we integrated multiple technologies into a larger project. We used some of our BGAN terminals that we use for the Inmarsat system. We also use some of our own JUPITER system for connecting in locations that might need a little higher throughput. We put terminals on different vehicles that might need to connect into the grid, so they can connect. That could be for power companies that might need to reach all these sensors.

In other scenarios, where other companies are working, such as a solar project, we are looking at doing a private wireless network on campus, for example. We have actually deployed the full private wireless connection to that site so we have done that with a number of different energy companies. We take a lot of the expertise from the 5G networks we are involved with in the U.S. and some of the other local integration capabilities we have for example in Brazil to do a soup-to-nuts projects in some of the solar farms. We have a solution for all of these power companies that need to connect all of their sensors and have connectivity to remote locations, to cities, to have connection to vehicles, to private wireless networks in some of these locations.

VIA SATELLITE: Aside from Brazil, are there any other examples of projects that demonstrate the capabilities of the JUPITER System?

Losada: The JUPITER System is used for our services such as large projects such as Colombia and Mexico. However, the largest deployment of the JUPITER System is in Indonesia. We use the JUPITER for our own use and in our satellites, but we also sell it to others who use it in their networks.

For example, in Colombia, we have 15,000 schools connected through various programs. We are also doing backhaul in Colombia and Brazil. In Indonesia the connectivity program has connected over 30,000 villages using the JUPITER System. We have also announced the NILESAT program in Egypt, where they are using the JUPITER System to connect Egypt. Eutelsat uses the JUPITER System. They have hundreds of thousands of sites using our system. 

VIA SATELLITE: There is a lot of competition for contracts with governments and telcos looking for satellite? Why do you think Hughes is in a good position to win business with its JUPITER System?

Losada: We have been around for a long time. We are an extremely reliable partner for the government or a telco to work with directly. We have a global footprint. In country, there is always somebody trained with our technology so if a government or a telco is going to use our technology, they can find people that can use it, operate it, know it. Some people within their organizations will have already used it.

We have the technology, the reach, the logistics, the presence, the financial size, etc. A lot of telcos are capital-constrained but because we have a robust finance environment at Hughes, we can help carry some of that rollout with them. If they need to spread the rollout of the cost a little more, we can help them with that work. We have the financial power to help them. Because our system is used in over 85 satellites, the reach of a government/telco in coming to us, we will have a network somewhere to reach where they need too. So, if America Móvil in Latin America wants to connect hundreds of base stations or nodes, we have both the satellite coverage, technology coverage, and people to do it. We have everything they need.

VIA SATELLITE: In terms of competition, it is clear that Starlink could be considered the main competitor to Hughes here. How do you stack up against Starlink?

Losada: I think the discussion is more at a corporate level than a technology level for us. Starlink is a system. It is a technology and a network. We are a corporate solution. We bring multi-orbit technology. You don’t only get LEO solutions because we partner with Eutelsat OneWeb. We have our Hughes Managed LEO system. We also partner that up with our own high-throughput satellites (HTS) in Ka-band or with partners Ka-band systems somewhere in the world. You get the best of both worlds with the high density of Geostationary Orbit (GEO) satellites and coverage of LEO satellites when needed.

We sign up for full service level agreements (SLAs) with customers. If you have a very stringent SLA requirement, we can provide that. We manage our networks. We have points of presence (POPs), we have everything. Starlink is a system that is designed for others to build around it. We do the work for our customers. We do full managed services and all the unified threat management (UTM) capabilities, so you have filter and intrusion capabilities, so everything that comes with cyber. We also have an AI driven network management system that can detect if a site is having issues and provide advanced notice of that. We incorporate our full managed services to the solution, not simply a connection.

VIA SATELLITE: How has the JUPITER System has developed recently and how you have improved the system to meet the needs of customers? What innovations are you looking to bring to customers?

Losada: Our main customers are the large global satellite operators plus all the regional satellite operators – this in the GEO world. What we try to do is maintain the level of innovation at the level that they are developing, so as the satellite operators develop new platforms and satellite solutions, we make sure our satellite systems and ground systems stays in lock step with them, or even ahead.

Our JUPITER System features an AI-driven ground infrastructure that builds on the deep expertise we’ve developed through managing some of the world’s most complex networks. By integrating advanced analytics and machine learning into the platform, we’re enabling predictive intelligence — so operators can proactively identify and address potential network issues before they impact performance. You can read out on the network management system (NMS) statistics, and make sure you have a robust network all of the time and using the capacity in the most efficient way possible. We have also created a concept of regionalized gateway architectures. So, if you are one of the largest global satellite operators and they wanted to create a network that spans the globe, we have a way in which the NMS can manage these regionalized gateways from one location. You can easily have visibility by watching this gateway.

A very large country like Indonesia takes advantage of this. Indonesia is the size of the U.S. and it has a very difficult weather environment. We try to make sure that every gateway that exists in this network, and it takes many, can co-exist within that system. We have also developed a very compact and scalable gateway that can take you from a small network of 1 Gbps to above 10 Gbps in the same hardware. As you grow, we can grow with you easily with the network without having to spend a whole lot on extra hardware because the gateways are already very scalable.

Software-defined networking is at the core of our architecture. As satellites themselves become increasingly software-defined, it’s essential that the ground systems evolve in parallel. There is no sense in having an advanced satellite with a system in the ground that doesn’t match the capabilities of the satellite. It is also 5G ready. You can plug in a 5G network for backhaul. Of course, we are part of DISH Mobile. We have the greatness of being able to play with a true 5G network with our system so we can develop these systems and APIs. We take that to telcos around the world who also want to connect with our system into their backhaul. 

VIA SATELLITE: What do you see as the competitive advantages of the JUPITER System? Why is LEO a compelling option for governments/telcos compared to others? What are your views on multi-orbit services and using a combination of LEO and GEO?

Losada: A LEO system brings you coverage right off the bat. We are taking advantage of that in our aero networks. Say you are flying over a very high-density airport like Heathrow or Newark. You have a lot of throughput and a lot of planes converging at the same time. You don’t want to have a problem with capacity density.

So, we bring the high throughput GEO capacity to those areas. But then the aircraft flies over the ocean or the desert, that don’t need that high density, we use the advantage of LEO. We see LEO bringing in an additional set of opportunities for us or access to networks that we didn’t have in the GEO world, so traffic that is very sensitive to low latency. Now, we can actually back up some of these applications that before customers were very concerned about putting satellite on to back up their network. Now, we can put on some of that critical traffic that is very latency sensitive on these satellites, but then the rest of the traffic that is not so sensitive, we can put on the GEO network. That is the beauty of multi-orbit.

On top of that, once we start developing these next satellite systems that operate directly with the devices instead of having a bespoke terminal, you have billions of terminals that operate over our network, it will be easy for customers to use their own device and access our network. You have this story that is all tied to this 5G core that shares across GEO and LEO and as progress, direct-to-device (D2D).

VIA SATELLITE: With direct-to-device (D2D) becoming more mainstream, has this impacted how governments are viewing satellite-based connectivity? 

Losada: The first part of what D2D has done is bring a new IoT capability to the market. Before you would have to connect all these sensors to a base station and then you would have to connect the base station in some other way. Now these devices can connect directly, so the reach of these IoT devices is expanding so you can go further into these more difficult places. Governments can start to monitor much, much more these remote areas with sensors that can detect things like air quality or water and rainfall, for example. You can reach these IoT devices directly with satellites, without installing very expensive infrastructure.

In the capital-constrained environment where interest rates are very high and telcos are struggling with low ARPUs, they are very hesitant to spend. We, as a satellite industry, bring a network that allows these connections to happen in a place where the local telcos haven’t invested. This fulfills a coverage requirement for these governments for connectivity, that before would require the telcos to make this capital investment.

The way we are approaching this market is through a partnership with a telco so that they consider this an extension to their network in some way. The key is for governments to see it as a coverage solution for the telco. The telcos have the connectivity requirements. If they consider this as part of meeting their requirements, this is a win-win for all of us.

VIA SATELLITE: Hughes recently launched a new compact electronically steerable antenna (ESA), the HL1100W. Could you tell us the significance of this launch and the work you are doing on the terminal side to make your offer more compelling?

Losada: We went into the world with a two-panel ESA solution, that gave you very high throughputs in both uplink and downlink, and had a very high performance. But we realized is that the high capital investments for those terminals and the size and swap of it was not conducive to every environment that the customers wanted to use it in. Not only might they not need all the throughput, but they might not need the weight, or can’t afford to use the size of it. So, we created a compact version of it, a single panel terminal. It doesn’t do the same throughputs but it still does nearly 75 Mbps for downlink and the uplink is over 14 Mbps. It is very good throughput for a panel that is that small.

We are using a variant of that in our aero business so we can go after everything – narrowbody aircraft, business jets. Gogo uses this for very small business jets. As you start getting into narrowbody or widebody aircraft that need higher throughput, we just need to stack our ESA so you get higher throughput by adding additional panels. The HL100W really fits that niche for fixed small and comms-on-the pause applications, where you have the throughput requirements and the SWAP constraints. You can live with the throughput at 67 Mbps, but also you need a small terminal that is flat and fills that void.

VIA SATELLITE: Have we reached an inflection point in terms of use cases for satellite connectivity?  

Losada: The demand for connectivity is insatiable. The applications are bandwidth-hungry. The fastest way to reach some of these locations is to use satellite technology. The terrestrial rollout of these networks is very challenging. Satellite has better connectivity in some places than even the terrestrial connectivity. So, we can bring better technology. There are multiple different ways to connect. We can use LEO, D2D or multi-orbit. In some of these areas, there will be multiple choices for customers/governments to connect. There are more choices than ever before.

The end users can start designing systems that are not based on a certain type of demographic, so they can reach all demographics. So, it is reaching new opportunities for our customers, but for the applications of customers that have not traditionally used satellite as an option for their connectivity. I think there is a great growth opportunity for us. 

VIA SATELLITE: Do you believe the current iteration of satellite services can be described as ‘future proof’?

 Losada: On the JUPITER system, we are spending a lot of energy connecting everything together on a 5G core infrastructure. If you look at something like IRIS² and the work of Eutelsat OneWeb, it will all be based on a 5G architecture. As long as you are doing things around that 5G/NTN core, you will be in lockstep with what is happening in that world. You will get all the benefit in the improvements of new releases, from Release 17 to 18 to 19. As long as your core connectivity technology for the access is based on those kinds of standards, as they progress, you can take advantage of that and future-proof your technology. We have to stay ahead of that and continually innovate. We have to make sure we don’t get left behind.

VIA SATELLITE: Finally, what would represent success over the next 12 months?

Losada: We’re building on our significant capacity over the Americas. At Hughes, we want the JUPITER system to grow into a 5G, full aero Ka-based system around the world that customers and airlines can benefit from, and to get more airlines into our ecosystem. We want to drive all of these innovations that we are doing into our networks so customers that would traditionally buy a gateway and have a bespoke solution within their own teleports can use Hughes as the manager of their networks in a cloud, AI-driven environment. This means we have gone from a pure CapEx intensive sale to a full recurring solution.

Success would be based on transforming our relationship with our satellite operators into a more recurring relationship, a world where everything is based on a 5G core so that we can stay in lockstep with advances, having a Ka-band fabric around the world that our airlines can benefits from, as we continue our growth as an IFC provider and then selling all of our capacity around the world with our satellites.