{"id":827510,"date":"2025-02-16T12:16:28","date_gmt":"2025-02-16T18:16:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/16\/abs-rethinks-business-models-to-navigate-shifting-satellite-market\/"},"modified":"2025-02-16T12:16:28","modified_gmt":"2025-02-16T18:16:28","slug":"abs-rethinks-business-models-to-navigate-shifting-satellite-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/16\/abs-rethinks-business-models-to-navigate-shifting-satellite-market\/","title":{"rendered":"ABS rethinks business models to navigate shifting satellite market"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

TAMPA, Fla. \u2014 Agility Beyond Space (ABS) is keen to embrace new business models and strategic partnerships as the rapidly evolving satellite market shifts beneath the Dubai-based geostationary operator\u2019s feet.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe live in interesting times,\u201d quipped Mark Rigolle, a satellite industry veteran who took the helm of ABS last year in the latest shake-up for the company<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile market prices have gone down [for satellite capacity] and continue to erode \u2014 although it seems to be bottoming out a little bit \u2014 the cost of buying a new satellite has barely changed,\u201d Rigolle said in an interview with SpaceNews<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor any operator, just replacing like-for-like satellites has become increasingly difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n

This reality has driven ABS to explore new approaches, such as a condosat model, where multiple customers share a single satellite to lower costs and investment risks.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re working on developing a condosat approach in one or two cases,\u201d Rigolle continued, \u201cand we\u2019re working on government programs where we will maybe also take part of the capacity.<\/p>\n

Transitioning to Ka-band<\/strong><\/p>\n

Historically, ABS satellites in geostationary orbit (GEO) have relied on wide-beam C- and Ku-band frequencies, but the company is looking to pivot toward Ka-band spectrum to align with increasing demand for higher throughput services.<\/p>\n

At the 75 degrees East orbital position over the Indian Ocean, where ABS currently has two geostationary satellites, the company plans to replace the ABS-2 spacecraft with one equipped with commercial and military Ka-band capabilities after it depletes fuel toward the end of this decade.<\/p>\n

At 116.1 degrees East over the Philippines and South China Sea, ABS is looking for a partner to invest in a satellite to use the Ka-band reservation the operator has lodged with international spectrum regulators.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose are the projects that we\u2019re trying to finalize now, and we\u2019ll hopefully be able to talk about them in more detail within six months to a year,\u201d Rigolle said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s light at the end of the tunnel, and it\u2019s not an oncoming train.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adapting to Starlink\u2019s growing presence<\/strong><\/p>\n

Smaller satellite operators like ABS are facing increasing competition from SpaceX\u2019s Starlink and other low Earth orbit (LEO) constellations, which are starting to disrupt traditional GEO capacity contracts<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Starlink, which initially focused on consumer broadband, has been expanding aggressively into government and enterprise services.<\/p>\n

While consumer broadband is not part of ABS\u2019 portfolio, Rigolle said the company has still felt the effects of LEO competition.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, he emphasized that ABS\u2019 focus on customers with mission-critical needs has insulated it from the worst of this impact.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur enterprise network customers need to be able to rely on the connectivity that is provided to them,\u201d he said. \u201cThe best effort service really doesn\u2019t make any sense, and so yes, we\u2019ve had some erosion of our revenue base, but it\u2019s been a lot less than what I\u2019ve seen at certain other operators.\u201d<\/p>\n

With a global team of fewer than 160 people, Rigolle highlighted how the company\u2019s small size also provides an advantage by enabling it to respond quickly to customer needs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reporting lines are short,\u201d he added. \u201cDecisions are made very quickly \u2014 same day usually for pricing, activation of service, and more. That\u2019s what we bring to the market, and that\u2019s what customers respond to quite favorably.\u201d<\/p>\n

Multi-orbit future<\/strong><\/p>\n

A former CEO for O3b, the medium Earth orbit network that was partly owned by SES during his tenure and is now fully owned by the operator, which also operates geostationary satellites, Rigolle is a strong proponent of multi-orbit strategies that offer greater redundancy and flexibility.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you as a satellite operator don\u2019t offer [a multi-orbit solution], then the customer will cobble it together themselves,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) systems such as Starlink need to illuminate the entire globe to provide service, he continued, and this global architecture reduces the return on investment as incremental satellites are added.<\/p>\n

Rigolle argued that GEO and NGSO systems will eventually need to work together to address these economic challenges.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe with relative valuations being totally depressed for GEO operators at the moment, if I were managing a non-GEO network which had deep pockets, I would be thinking of buying some geostationary operators,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

ABS currently provides connectivity to enterprises, service providers, broadcasters and government entities over Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific\u00a0with five satellites: ABS-2, ABS-2A, ABS-3A, ABS-4\/Mobisat-1 and ABS-6.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TAMPA, Fla. \u2014 Agility Beyond Space (ABS) is keen to embrace new business models and strategic partnerships as the rapidly evolving satellite market shifts beneath the Dubai-based geostationary operator\u2019s feet. \u201cWe live in interesting times,\u201d quipped Mark Rigolle, a satellite industry veteran who took the helm of ABS last year in the latest shake-up for<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":827511,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[378,109564],"tags":[8652,13856],"class_list":{"0":"post-827510","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"category-rethinks","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-rethinks"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/827510","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=827510"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/827510\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/827511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=827510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=827510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=827510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}