Is Satellite Backhaul a Refuge in Times of COVID-19?
One trend is clear: COVID-19 punctuates the need to boost network performance not just where the digital divide persists, but in locations where traffic surges will occur post the pandemic era.
One trend is clear: COVID-19 punctuates the need to boost network performance not just where the digital divide persists, but in locations where traffic surges will occur post the pandemic era.
With recent declines in satellite capacity pricing, Satellite Backhaul became a real alternative for MNO rural deployments. However, CAPEX involved in the cell tower, primarily designed for urban areas with a dense distribution of subscribers, limited the market opportunity to relatively large population agglomerations.
With backhaul networks rapidly transitioning to 4G and the installed base continuously expanding, Mobile Backhaul via Satellite offers sizable opportunities in all regions. Smallcells will play an increasingly important role in this growth, as lower costs expand the addressable market to areas previously uncovered due to industry cost metrics.
NSR’s Commercial Satellite Ground Segment, 4th Edition (CSGS4) report, released today, forecasts global annual revenues for the Commercial Satellite Ground Segment to grow to $14.4 billion annually by 2028, with $145 billion in cumulative revenue over the next decade. Despite turbulence in the video market, Satellite TV continues to generate the largest volumes, pushing STBs (Set-top Box) and antennas to capture the biggest share of revenues.
How much C-Band spectrum can then be repurposed to unleash the potential of 5G, but at the same time avoid disrupting current C-Band users?