Which NB-NTN use case is the ‘juiciest’ for Viasat? The one with the longest gross sales cycle.
Cellular community operators and satellite tv for pc operators hanging partnerships and starting to roll out satellite-based mobile providers in hopes of capturing new revenues. Final month, Verizon boosted its direct-to-device texting capabilities on some Android telephones,
Whereas the numerous technical challenges of Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN) are being addressed, there’s a bigger query looming: How a lot of a market is there for these providers, and is it a shopper or an enterprise market?
In a current dialog on the 2025 Satellite tv for pc Present, Andy Kessler, vice chairman for Viasat’s enterprise division, mentioned the satellite tv for pc operator’s views on the mobile NTN market with RCR Wi-fi Information.
Viasat has an NB-IoT community that it markets as IoT Direct, which makes use of the corporate’s L-band satellite tv for pc spectrum. In late March, Australian satellite tv for pc IoT outfit Myriota launched its NB-NTN service, Myriota HyperPulse, utilizing leased capability from Viasat. Amongst its different current offers associated to mobile integration, Viasat additionally signed an MOU with United Arab Emirates-based Space42 final month to discover ecosystem partnerships for growing a 5G NTN in initiative, beginning with technical and industrial research on growing a “shared, or multi-tenant, multi-orbit 5G NTN infrastructure using a standards-based open structure” and utilizing L-band, S-band and terrestrial spectrum.
Viasat, Kessler mentioned, is focusing on three completely different NB-NTN use circumstances. These are:
Direct-to-consumer. That is the use case getting all of the headlines as of late: Utilizing satellite-based connectivity with common smartphones. NB-NTN is the tech underlying the few commercially accessible standards-based deployments which can be on the market proper now, and extra of NB-NTN-capable satellites are anticipated to be launched this yr.
Kessler mentioned that whereas that market is already growing by means of gadgets and carriers, he anticipates that “companion gadgets” may even be part of the market.
At this yr’s Cellular World Congress Barcelona, Terrestar Options, Bittium, TTP and Qualcomm Applied sciences demonstrated their Sat Companion prototype, which consisted of a slim, snap-on module with a high-gain antenna and Qualcomm 9205S modem inside—not all that dissimilar to the Motorola Z3’s “Moto Mod,” for many who keep in mind the earliest makes an attempt at 5G mmWave gadgets. The companions promised “seamless connectivity, offering customers with uninterrupted SMS, chat, voice, and e mail providers even in probably the most distant areas” with the Sat Companion machine.
Kessler mentioned that Viasat sees a “vital market” for such companion gadgets and expects there to be acceleration this yr. He mentioned that companion gadgets will allow not solely SOS messages however satellite-based SMS extra usually, provided that Rel. 17 or later capabilities nonetheless uncommon. “A lot of the ecosystem is just not Launch 17-capable. Even with the most recent and best, it’s actually solely the flagship telephones,” he famous, including, “The companion machine is a pleasant interim technique to get providers into the general public with out individuals having to kind of make an enormous leap on a brand new cellphone.”
In any case, upgrades cycles for smartphones proceed to elongate, however companion gadgets might allow a wider section of customers to entry satellite-based providers even with out upgrading their smartphone. “We actually just like the companion gadgets mainly for that dynamic,” he mentioned.
However Kessler doesn’t simply see companion gadgets as a placeholder whereas ready for an improve cycle to kick in. He anticipates that these sort of gadgets shall be a big section of the direct-to-device shopper marketplace for an prolonged time interval. He additionally mentioned that for off-grid adventurers, or individuals who need a back-up for when their telephones’ battery dies or a cellphone is misplaced, satellite-based companion gadgets may be developed that work for standalone, emergency connectivity—however would value considerably lower than the normal satellite tv for pc cellphone, due to the economies of scale that come from a standards-based ecosystem moderately than a proprietary one.
“We expect that’s a very good function set to supply people” so that individuals have the flexibility to achieve out for assist, Kessler mentioned. “We expect that’s going to be an enormous marketplace for us.”
Industrial Web of Issues. “Industrial IoT is definitely, I believe, probably the most attention-grabbing when it comes to the way it’s going to vary issues,” Kessler mentioned.
A survey-based report from Viasat earlier this yr discovered that 85% of companies mentioned that they’d “struggled to develop IoT due to connectivity points within the areas they need to deploy.”
Essentially, he continued, the enterprise case for NTN-based industrial IoT is about lowering obstacles to entry. What that basically comes all the way down to, Kessler mentioned—and what’s so thrilling to the satellite tv for pc trade and ecosystem proper now—is the plummeting value of in comparison with a conventional satellite tv for pc person terminal, and which use circumstances would open for satellite tv for pc connectivity in consequence.
“We’re already seeing robust proof that we’re going to have the ability to have ecosystem companions. It really is an ecosystem, that’s going to have the ability to construct and promote the {hardware} for tens of US {dollars},” he mentioned. “That discount when it comes to capital funding and obstacles to entry, opens up all these use circumstances, which you by no means would have contemplated earlier than.”
He comes again to an instance that he jokingly says comes up in each assembly: Cattle monitoring. If, say, a cow is value someplace between $1,000-$1,500 to a rancher, it doesn’t make sense to place $3,000 into utilizing a satellite-based monitoring machine on that cow. “However in the event you can make investments $50 to trace a $1,500 cow, now impulsively that will get actually attention-grabbing,” Kessler mentioned. Such satellite tv for pc monitoring might, for instance, assist set up provenance and monitoring of cattle in order that they are often offered as boutique meats like 100% grass-fed.
What number of extra issues do enterprises (and even customers) personal that value a couple of thousand {dollars} and are subsequently value $50 or so to trace? “Asset monitoring in distant environments impulsively will get actually essential and actually worthwhile when you’ll be able to have that,” he mentioned. “So we consider this as opening up all these untapped markets that essentially, the economics by no means made sense earlier than. And now they’ll.”
Linked automotive. “Linked automotive would possibly truly be the juiciest marketplace for us, when it comes to the magnitude of it and the alternatives that it presents,” Kessler mirrored, including that related vehicles additionally current the chance to combine a modem with a Rel. 17 or later chipset, in addition to present for a bigger antenna that “opens up the chances when it comes to what providers you’ll be able to ship.”
Viasat was the first satellite tv for pc supplier to affix the 5G Automotive Affiliation, in late 2024. On the time, Kevin Kevin Cohen, VP of direct to machine partnerships at Viasat, mentioned: “With a longstanding historical past in offering important security providers within the air and at sea, and our continued innovation on direct-to-device connectivity, becoming a member of the 5GAA is a pure match for Viasat. By using already licensed L-band spectrum for cellular satellite tv for pc providers, automobiles might roam between house and floor community connectivity.”
In early March, in the meantime, Viasat introduced a first-of-its-kind demonstration of direct-to-device connectivity for the automotive sector, utilizing Viasat’s L-band satellites and satellite tv for pc NB-NTN supplier Skylo’s community, to supply narrowband monitoring, monitoring and messaging capabilities, utilizing modules and antennas from Quectel Wi-fi Options that allowed check automobiles to ” seamlessly change between satellite tv for pc and mobile networks”. The trials passed off during the last 4 months between Blumenau and Curitiba in southern Brazil, with checks carried out by Viasat companion GuardianSat by means of Acceleronix.
However the automotive NB-NTN use case has the longest gross sales cycle of those talked about to this point. Which implies, Kessler acknowledged, that it will likely be quicker and simpler to attain noticeable progress on providers and prospects within the direct-to-consumer use case or in industrial IoT than within the related automotive house.
Nonetheless, he mentioned that Viasat is “pushing with all urgency on all three fronts.”
NTN: ‘It’s actual,’ however the market remains to be simply rising
What’s a very powerful factor to grasp in regards to the satellite-cellular market proper now?
“One of many key issues is, it’s actual,” Kessler mentioned. “Individuals can now do it. It’s gotten a yr additional down the maturity path. I’ve a Launch 17-capable cellphone that I can roam onto satellite tv for pc now.” Extra MNOs and MVNOs are recognizing the worth of creating satellite tv for pc connectivity part of their choices, he added, forming relationships that look quite a bit like common, terrestrial roaming preparations. “There’s quite a lot of pull within the market proper now on that entrance, which I believe provides us enhanced confidence that there actually is a marketplace for this,” Kessler mentioned.
He expects the approaching yr to shed extra gentle on utilization dynamics and the way a lot persons are prepared to say—which, he acknowledges the ecosystem is “nonetheless available in the market discovery” part.
“I believe what we are going to study within the subsequent yr is essentially about these two factors: about utilization [and] willingness to pay,” Kessler mentioned—however he additionally reiterated that the marketplace for NTN providers remains to be in its early phases. Nobody firm is more likely to serve all of the anticipated wants, however there are probably going to need to be strategic changes because the market options turn into clearer.
“That is definitely a interval of market discovery proper now,” Kessler mentioned. “I might say we might be awfully naive to suppose that we’ve the superbly suited method when it comes to go-to-market proper now. So, what we’re essentially about is, as we study, we’re going to acknowledge the place we have to adapt, and it’s more likely to change not directly.”
