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 putting 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 latest 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 latest offers associated to mobile integration, Viasat additionally signed an MOU with United Arab Emirates-based Space42 final month to discover ecosystem partnerships for creating a 5G NTN in initiative, beginning with technical and industrial research on creating 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 stated, is concentrating on three completely different NB-NTN use instances. These are:
Direct-to-consumer. That is the use case getting all of the headlines nowadays: Utilizing satellite-based connectivity with common smartphones. NB-NTN is the tech underlying the few commercially out there standards-based deployments which might be on the market proper now, and extra of NB-NTN-capable satellites are anticipated to be launched this yr.
Kessler stated that whereas that market is already creating via units and carriers, he anticipates that “companion units” 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 units. The companions promised “seamless connectivity, offering customers with uninterrupted SMS, chat, voice, and e mail providers even in essentially the most distant areas” with the Sat Companion machine.
Kessler stated that Viasat sees a “important market” for such companion units and expects there to be acceleration this yr. He stated that companion units 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 isn’t Launch 17-capable. Even with the newest and biggest, it’s actually solely the flagship telephones,” he famous, including, “The companion machine is a pleasant interim option to get providers into the general public with out folks having to type of make an enormous leap on a brand new cellphone.”
In any case, upgrades cycles for smartphones proceed to elongate, however companion units may allow a wider section of customers to entry satellite-based providers even with out upgrading their smartphone. “We actually just like the companion units mainly for that dynamic,” he stated.
However Kessler doesn’t simply see companion units as a placeholder whereas ready for an improve cycle to kick in. He anticipates that these sort of units might be a big section of the direct-to-device shopper marketplace for an prolonged time interval. He additionally stated 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 units 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 slightly than a proprietary one.
“We expect that’s a very good characteristic set to supply of us” so that individuals have the flexibility to achieve out for assist, Kessler stated. “We expect that’s going to be an enormous marketplace for us.”
Industrial Web of Issues. “Industrial IoT is definitely, I believe, essentially the most fascinating by way of the way it’s going to alter issues,” Kessler stated.
A survey-based report from Viasat earlier this yr discovered that 85% of companies stated that they’d “struggled to develop IoT due to connectivity points within the areas they need to deploy.”
Basically, he continued, the enterprise case for NTN-based industrial IoT is about lowering limitations to entry. What that actually comes all the way down to, Kessler stated—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 consumer terminal, and which use instances would open for satellite tv for pc connectivity consequently.
“We’re already seeing sturdy proof that we’re going to have the ability to have ecosystem companions. It actually is an ecosystem, that’s going to have the ability to construct and promote the {hardware} for tens of US {dollars},” he stated. “That discount by way of capital funding and limitations to entry, opens up all these use instances, 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 price 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 case you can make investments $50 to trace a $1,500 cow, now impulsively that will get actually fascinating,” Kessler stated. Such satellite tv for pc monitoring may, 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 number of thousand {dollars} and are subsequently price $50 or so to trace? “Asset monitoring in distant environments impulsively will get actually necessary and actually useful when you’ll be able to have that,” he stated. “So we consider this as opening up all these untapped markets that basically, the economics by no means made sense earlier than. And now they’ll.”
Related automotive. “Related automotive may really be the juiciest marketplace for us, by way of the magnitude of it and the alternatives that it presents,” Kessler mirrored, including that linked 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 probabilities by way of what providers you’ll be able to ship.”
Viasat was the first satellite tv for pc supplier to hitch the 5G Automotive Affiliation, in late 2024. On the time, Kevin Kevin Cohen, VP of direct to machine partnerships at Viasat, stated: “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 cell satellite tv for pc providers, automobiles may 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 take a look at automobiles to ” seamlessly swap between satellite tv for pc and mobile networks”. The trials passed off over the past 4 months between Blumenau and Curitiba in southern Brazil, with assessments performed by Viasat accomplice GuardianSat via Acceleronix.
However the automotive NB-NTN use case has the longest gross sales cycle of those talked about to date. Which suggests, Kessler acknowledged, that it is going to be quicker and simpler to attain noticeable progress on providers and clients within the direct-to-consumer use case or in industrial IoT than within the linked automotive house.
Nonetheless, he stated that Viasat is “pushing with all urgency on all three fronts.”
NTN: ‘It’s actual,’ however the market continues to be simply rising
What’s crucial factor to know in regards to the satellite-cellular market proper now?
“One of many key issues is, it’s actual,” Kessler stated. “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 constructing satellite tv for pc connectivity part of their choices, he added, forming relationships that look so much like common, terrestrial roaming preparations. “There’s numerous pull within the market proper now on that entrance, which I believe offers us enhanced confidence that there actually is a marketplace for this,” Kessler stated.
He expects the approaching yr to shed extra mild on utilization dynamics and the way a lot persons are prepared to say—which, he acknowledges the ecosystem is “nonetheless out there discovery” section.
“I believe what we’ll be taught within the subsequent yr is basically about these two factors: about utilization [and] willingness to pay,” Kessler stated—however he additionally reiterated that the marketplace for NTN providers continues to be in its early phases. Nobody firm is more likely to serve all of the anticipated wants, however there are seemingly going to must be strategic changes because the market options turn into clearer.
“That is actually a interval of market discovery proper now,” Kessler stated. “I’d say we might be awfully naive to assume that we’ve the peerlessly suited method by way of go-to-market proper now. So, what we’re basically about is, as we be taught, we’re going to acknowledge the place we have to adapt, and it’s more likely to change ultimately.”