Market Trends of Maritime Satellite Communication Industry
Maritime Satellite Communication Service Offering to Hold Significant Market Share
- The growing ecosystem of maritime transportation and its benefits with the circular economy, such as decreasing carbon footprints and other aspects, coincide with the organizational goals of the companies and demands for data-driven maritime services. These are best bolstered with the satellite communication providers offering services for busy vessel routes.
- According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, of the 5,465 active artificial satellites orbiting the Earth as of April 30, 2022, 3,433 belong to the United States. This is the most significant number of countries, with their nearest competitor, China, accounting for only 541.
- The increasing traffic on specific routes creates a considerable requirement for maritime satellite communication services for multiple shipping and maritime service providers. According to the Ministry of Ports, Shipping, and Waterways (India), the volume of sea cargo traffic handled at the ports of the Indian state of Gujarat was over 500 million metric tons in the recent year.
- Such high demands and handling of shipping across the ports invite maritime communication service providers to offer their reliable services for efficient and responsive satellite communication to track the shipments correctly and accurately, ensuring safe delivery of the shipments. KVH Industries Inc recently announced the launch of satellite connectivity services to allow vessels to use KVH connectivity while operating in Indian territorial waters. In addition, KVH will offer satellite connectivity services to Indian-flagged vessels. Station Satcom Private Ltd, an existing Mumbai-based KVH service provider, would be KVH’s distribution launch partner in India.
- Similarly, taking the Indian scenario forward, many public sectors are working on advancements to provide reliable satellite communication services to their shipping counterparts. In January 2022, ONGC, one of India’s largest oil and gas producers, chose Nelco, a satellite service provider, to upgrade its in-house Ku-band satellite communication system, enabling high-speed data and voice services for its sites off India’s western shoreline. According to Nelco, the strategic advancement may improve connectivity among ONGC’s offshore platforms, drilling rigs, vessels, and onshore locations, improving the company’s everyday operations and the life of its crew. The project expects to incur costs of around INR 400 million, which may include replacing ONGC’s existing system with an end-to-end IP network to support video, voice, and other forms of data, including application data.
- In different parts of the world, established wireless satellite communication service providers, including private players, are also entering the maritime communication spectrum through gradual advancements, providing profound connectivity to maritime customers. Such developments help build the ecosystem to bridge the gap between maritime satellite communication and the terrestrial bounds.
- For instance, in October 2023, OneWeb, the international low Earth orbit (LEO) communications network, announced its latest offering for the maritime industry, the "Try Before You Buy" maritime service. This service entitles maritime users to experience OneWeb's enterprise-grade flexible connectivity packages at sea, providing high-speed connectivity of over 100 Mbps. With 634 satellites in orbit, the OneWeb constellation is now complete and entirely operational down to 35 degrees latitude.
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Asia-Pacific to Witness the Significant Market Growth
- Due to the rising use of waterways for transportation, the increasing government initiatives, and the expanding use of satellite communication, the Asia-Pacific region (predominantly in India, China, Japan, Malaysia, and Singapore) is anticipated to be the fastest-growing segment in the maritime analytics market. In addition, the region's abundance of significant solution and service companies may foster market progress in Asia-Pacific.
- According to the Ministry of Transport of China, in May 2022, container throughput at China's coastal ports was about 22.3 million TEUs, an expansion of 7% over the previous month. Shanghai Port is the largest container seaport in China, processing about 47 million TEUs previously. Such an increase in container ships is expected to drive the market.
- According to the Broadband India Forum, the new standard for Interface Requirements for Communication & Broadcast Networks for fixed-satellite service-FSS/broadcasting satellite service-BSS (mandatory technical requirements) may authorize the ground segment very-small-aperture terminal (VSAT) participants to take advantage of the latest SATCOM technologies (BIF).
- As per the Ministry of Ports, the Deendayal port in India handled 17.5% of total cargo recently. Also, India had 224 ports last year. There was an increase in the total number of ports, especially across the South Asian country, with 7 additional minor ports added to the list. According to IBEF, approximately 95% of India's merchandise trade is done through sea ports. The country is one of the most significant peninsulas in the world, with a coastline of 7,516.6 km and 200 major and non-major ports. Hence, the rising number of ports in the region is creating a requirement for monitoring shipping-related activities, which may fuel the growth of the Asia-Pacific satellite communication market.
- Further, in December 2022, Nelco, a member of the Tata Group, applied for the Global Mobile Personal Communication by Satellite (GMPCS) license, making it the fourth company in India to do so. This action indicates increased interest in a newly emerging market with substantial growth potential. The government has so far granted licenses to Elon Musk-owned SpaceX and Bharti Group-backed OneWeb, as well as the satellite division of Reliance Jio Infocomm.
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