Can someone tell me what is mobile satellite communications?

Ask 20 people on the street what they know about the mobile satellite business, 10 will say “you mean like Sprint or Verizon?” Some will ask “like Dish Network, do you mean satellite TV?” A few more will just give you a blank stare. MAYBE you find someone who has heard of Iridium… “oh yeah, that handheld satellite phone set”? Hooray, thanks for not confusing it with the chemical element with atomic number 77.

The mobile satellite communications business really originated in the late 1970s, when Inmarsat launched the first commercially available communications satellite. 20 years later, there were less than 1 million customers worldwide; today, there are still less than 2 million end users worldwide. Inmarsat, which remains the largest of any commercially available communications satellite constellation, pulled in just over $250 million in revenue last year — not a lot relative to other industries, especially when you look at it. Consider the huge investment (billions of dollars) required to launch and maintain these very expensive and complex constellations (satellites)!

Mobile satellite communications are the “definition” of a business niche. Almost without fail, if there is ANY other alternative available, cell phones, landlines, 2 cans of juice and a rope, smoke signals, whatever, will be less expensive than satellite. Combine the “label shock” that is usually applied to one’s first exposure to satellite communications with the “perceived” complexity of the product and you will have gone a long way in explaining the reason for the limited market. We haven’t even mentioned the fact that most people rarely, if ever, venture into the realm where landlines or cell phones are not available and therefore have no reason to be exposed to this alternative form of communication.

So why does the satellite communications industry exist, if there aren’t many customers and they don’t generate as much revenue? Because the people who need it REALLY need it, and are willing to pay for it because there are no other options. Mobile satellite communications are always the choice of last resort for anyone who needs to communicate in remote parts of the world, but it is a choice nonetheless. It is the lifeblood of the shipping industry, oil and gas exploration and recovery, emergency and disaster relief operations, communications, and aircraft navigation. It plays an absolutely vital role in military operations around the world. It is not an exaggeration to say that life as we know it today would be very different if it were not for satellite communications. It touches EVERYONE, whether they realize it or not.