A market forecast by Euroconsult of Paris has concluded that wholesale revenue from mobile satellite services operators will grow by an average of 8 percent per year for the next decade, reaching some $2.5 billion in 2018, propelled in part of a forecasted huge growth in mobile-broadband applications.
Revenue was $1.2 billion in 2008, up 6 percent over 2007.
Wholesale revenue to satellite operators from mobile broadband, meaning services providing more than 128 kilobits per second of bandwidth, is expected to double every three years, with a compound annual growth of 25 percent, to reach $800 million in 2018.
Machine-to-machine (M2M) applications are also expected to grow, with the number of terminals in service by 2018 expected to reach more than 5.4 million, for an annual growth rate of 16 percent.
Maritime mobile satellite services, which accounted for one-third of the total 2008 revenue base, will grow 7 percent per year to 2018, with the Asia-Pacific viewed as particularly promising.
Aeronautical services, for which wholesale revenue totaled around $84 million in 2008, or 7 percent of the total market, will increase to $270 million in revenue by 2018, at which time they will account for 13 percent of all mobile satellite service wholesale revenue, according to Euroconsult.
