Operators to Launch 15,000 New Satellites Over the Next 5 Years

A new study from Juniper Research has found that the number of satellites in orbit that can be leveraged for IoT connectivity will grow 150% over the next five years. It predicts that these satellites will grow from 10,000 in 2024 to over 24,000 by 2029.

The growth will be pushed by the increased demand for connectivity in nomadic locations from IoT network users. The report forecasts that 98% of satellites launched over the next five years will be LEOs, due to the low cost of launches.

To meet this growing demand for satellite IoT connectivity, the study urges substantial investment in multi-orbit satellite solutions. This model combines the low latency and high throughput from LEOs (low earth orbit) satellites and the extensive geographical coverage of GEOs (geostationary earth orbit) satellites over a single service. This will enable satellite IoT providers to cater to the wide spectrum of IoT use cases, including data-intensive and LPWA (low power, wide area) connections.

The study urges satellite network operators to form strategic partnerships that fill in coverage gaps between LEO and GEO capabilities. It identified construction infrastructure, and logistics, as two key growth opportunities. It found that the wide range of connectivity requirements, such as nomadic operational areas and conditional monitoring, necessitates the use of both LEOs and GEOs for complete service provision. Partnerships that enable the use of LEOs and GEOs for IoT networks will be essential to attract enterprise users in these sectors.