It is unavoidable to invoke Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos. Because before these tycoons took an interest in space, there was a satellite industry that, in its communications aspect, enjoyed an unbeatable advantage: its universal coverage. “Once you have it in orbit, connecting networks to a satellite is immediate. Unlike the work and time it takes to deploy fiber below the surface. And television had its particular advantage: from a single point, you covered a vast territory. Says Miguel Ángel Panduro, CEO of Hispasat, a company that champions the Spanish presence in this industry.
Until Musk and Bezos agreed to develop constellations of low-orbit satellites (LEO, for its acronym in English) under the Starlink and Kuiper brands. In doing so, they broke an established value chain, what Panduro calls a “reordering” of the market, and in practice have pushed the idea of ??consolidation among competitors: France’s Eutelsat acquired Britain’s OneWeb, Viasat and Inmarsat have merged, negotiations between SES and Intelsat broke down but could be restored.
Cooperation is a non-traumatic alternative. It is the one chosen by Hispasat: joining the IRIS2 project, a constellation with which the EU intends to reaffirm European sovereignty in this fragmented market. In the coming weeks, its design will begin, which should come into operation in 2027 and with which Hispasat wants to stimulate more participation from the Spanish aerospace industry. “It is one of those cases in which the 27 national sovereignties are giving way to a supranational, European sovereignty”, argues Panduro.
This is the opportunity for Hispasat to put into practice a strategy decided three years ago. “We have lived quite happily for 25 years selling megahertz to whoever bought them to set up their networks, but the market has taken a turn: what the demand is asking for are megabits per second […] and whoever does not move from the previous model has little future”.
The capital market, he says, is ripe to support these projects. Hispasat has been pleasantly surprised by the bid between applicants to be awarded the capacity of its Amazonas Nexus satellite, put into orbit in February and whose coverage is the North Atlantic air corridor. “We have sold almost all of its capacity to a subsidiary of Intelsat, to satisfy the demand of the American airlines that make transoceanic flights to offer connectivity on board […] In fact, they would buy more from us, if we had it”.
The interviewee summarizes: “what we are doing is looking for new opportunities and new market niches. The most important for us continues to be mobility, especially by air and sea. And, of course, government projects aimed at security and reducing the digital divide”.
Satellite coverage is, a priori, the best asset for the internet to reach rural areas with 100 megabits per second. The digital divide in empty Spain is partly the result of the fact that it is not a profitable market that justifies investing in terrestrial deployments. But Hispasat has, by definition, access to one hundred percent of homes in Spain and the ability to make it profitable.
For this, it has devised a wholesale market, Unico Demanda Rural, which it makes available to any operator – national, regional or local – interested in providing service to end users. Panduro defines the proposal as “much more convenient than other offers for which the rural citizen has to pay twice as much as a city dweller”
