United States Satellite Communications Industry Overview
The United States satellite communications market is semiconsolidated, with a few prominent players such as Iridium Communications Inc, ORBCOMM Inc., Viasat Inc., and other corporations continually spending on strategic partnerships and product development to increase market share. The following are some recent market developments:
In January 2023, Viasat Inc., a worldwide communications firm, said it had been granted a contract to support end-to-end satellite communications (SATCOM) to the United States Marine Corps (USMC) via a fully managed service. The contract is an extension of a successful pilot and follow-on service program in which Viasat delivered a fully managed SATCOM as a Managed Service (SaaMS) solution to the USMC I Marine Expeditionary Force (I MEF), the Marine Corps' largest warfighting organization, in fiscal year 22. This is a USMC command's first use of a commercially developed SaaMS.
In August 2022, SpaceLink announced that it would collaborate with the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency to create protocols for connecting commercial communications constellations to defense and military equipment. DARPA launched a new initiative named Space BACN (space-based adaptive communications node) earlier this month to construct low-cost optical lines to connect commercial and government constellations. The agency seeks to build a network of low-Earth orbit satellites that will allow seamless communication across military, civil, and private-sector satellite networks that are now incompatible.
United States Satellite Communications Market Leaders
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Thales Group
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Inmarsat Global Limited
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Iridium Communications Inc
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Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd
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Orbcomm Inc
- *Disclaimer: Major Players sorted in no particular order
