TowerXchange: The space communications market has seen some incredible changes and growth in recent years. What have been the biggest changes in your view?
Morgan Rhys, VP - General Manager, EMEA Media and Networks Sales, Intelsat:
Firstly, the convergence of satellite and terrestrial technologies. There is an ongoing convergence of satellite and terrestrial technologies, regulations, standards, and use cases. The inclusion of satellite and non-terrestrial networks (NTN) in 3GPP standards opens new growth markets for satellite operators including Direct-to-Device, massive Internet of Things (IoT), public safety, etc. MNOs are embracing satellite connectivity to reach customers in rural regions where building terrestrial infrastructure is difficult and higher cost.
Secondly, the growing emphasis on vertical integration and rapid innovation. There's a noticeable trend towards vertical integration among young companies, aiming for a virtuous circle of launches, satellites, terminals, and funding.
We can’t deny the LEO operators’ growing influence: Starlink continues to be a disruptive force in the industry, with high ambitions in a broad range of markets and verticals. Eutelsat OneWeb – who we partner with – is also expanding, and Kuiper is also on its way.
In addition, there is strong demand for multi-orbit solutions, as telcos and MNOs are seeing the value in using multi-orbit solutions, for a variety of use cases. LEO satellites emerged as a very appealing option (for low latency notably), but multi-orbit is now in the spotlight given the added resiliency and quality of service provided by GEO satellites to LEO satellites.
Last but not least, security and resiliency are also seen as ‘hot’ topics these days. Telcos, MNOs cannot afford facing security and resiliency issues, which would dramatically impact their customers’ businesses, end-users’ experience, consumer loyalty, etc. At Intelsat, for example, we are the only commercial satellite operator with third party attestation on the security posture of our space flight operations and terrestrial infrastructure.
TowerXchange: What is Intelsat’s strategy in all of this?
Morgan Rhys, VP - General Manager, EMEA Media and Networks Sales, Intelsat:
We are building strong partnerships, which we think are key in today’s telecommunications landscape. We generally believe that establishing partnerships between telcos, MNOs, GEO and LEO satellite operators, towercos, etc, and bringing together complementary capabilities can drive competition, which benefits customers and people around the world who rely on seamless connectivity. It’s clear that our industry is transforming, with new capabilities and technologies being brought to the market. By partnering with OneWeb for example, we are strengthening our multi-orbit offering, with the benefits I just mentioned for our customers.
We are also offering bespoke solutions, in line with the trends I previously mentioned, to support our customers and partners better, with on the ground integration and end-to-end management.
TowerXchange: How do you think the satellite communications industry can support the tower companies and where are the synergies?
Morgan Rhys, VP - General Manager, EMEA Media and Networks Sales, Intelsat:
Satcom solutions have the value of ubiquity, resiliency, and time to market. The key message is that, wherever your towers are there is satellite connectivity, it is reliable, and it can be brought into service in a matter of days, maybe even hours. We know from our experience of connecting over 15,000 cellular towers globally that terrestrial backhaul solutions like microwave and fibre are often the last items to be delivered as part a cell Tower solution. Using satellite connectivity whether for permanent or temporary backhaul connections to the cell tower means that the time to revenue for the towerco can be reduced significantly. Similarly, with many assets at the cell tower that need to be monitored reliably, compact, low data rate satellite solutions can be used to provide IoT type monitoring to the tower, ensuring you are fully aware of the state of the energy systems or other infrastructure at the site.
In a few words, turnkey integration and a large variety of solutions supported are two ways the satcom industry can support towercos, leading to better economics for the latter.
TowerXchange: Why is Intelsat participating at TowerXchange Meetup Europe 2024?
Morgan Rhys, VP - General Manager, EMEA Media and Networks Sales, Intelsat:
Being here is important for us. We serve eight of the world’s top 10 MNOs and deliver broadband connectivity everywhere our customers do business, so these topics are key for us, and we want to do even better in the future.
Our portfolio of solutions keeps enlarging, and towercos can rely on these solutions to support their infrastructure.
TowerXchange Meetup Europe is a great opportunity for us to meet with industry actors we want to collaborate with.
