During the Monday morning session of the Satellite 2024 conference a panel of satellite industry experts discussed the changes in the GEO (geostationary orbit) market.
Recently, the consulting firm NSR estimated that the share of non-GEO satellites in the total demand for high-speed capacity grew from approximately 21% in 2022 to around 52% in 2032. When asked if the dominance of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) would affect GEO, the speakers agreed that hardware, software, and business models are changing and being disrupted due to the influence of non-established or non-traditional manufacturers impacting the market. However, the speakers firmly agreed that GEO is not dead.
"Our business is divided into two parts providing subsystems for geostationary satellites and then providing satellites for LEO and MEO (Medium Earth Orbit)", said Mike Greenley, CEO of MDA Space. "But we absolutely believe that maintaining the GEO side is fully underway".
On his part, Ryan Reid, President of Boeing Satellite Systems International, commented: "GEO is the best way to get the bandwidth economy, which at the end of the day is the limited resource".