Yes, we do have one. In fact, UK space companies have grown by an average of 10% a year since 2007, making it one of the quiet success stories in the British economy. The turnover is now estimated at over £7.5billion a year, and employment within the industry is also rising by around 15% a year. It seems we are producing a lot more rocket scientists these days!

The best performing areas are in the downstream areas such as satellite broadband and broadcasting. But even upstream, satellite manufacturing is recording healthy performance levels, with an average of 3% growth year on year.

So what’s driving this space-age space race on Britain’s shores? The growing demand for mobile technology and satellite broadband connectivity means that the space industry is now intrinsically linked into the telecommunications sector. That in turn is driving the wheels of small businesses across the country and providing a comprehensive coverage system that’s vital to economic growth.

London-based satellite communications operator Inmarsat has seen demand for its services increase, pushing its earnings up 18.4% in just one quarter.

“Satellites go where terrestrial services don’t,” explained Inmarsat’s CEO Andrew Sukawaty.

“What we’re doing now with satellites is providing broadband, or Internet access or email coverage in remote environments. And because we’re extending this service to an under-served market, we’re now in a position to expand, even in the middle of a recession.”

The potential for growth is enormous. With continuing demand from business and non-business users alike for mobile technology, a commitment from the government to have ‘the best broadband network in Europe by 2015’ and a desire to see the UK at the forefront of space technology, active investment in the industry could create up to 100,000 new jobs and boost revenue to £40billion a year. Potentially, it could be one of our biggest growth sectors, with international implications. We may not be sending men to the moon, but satellite technology is astronomically important to the UK’s economy and to the success of small businesses across the country.

Ka Sat – the satellite for rural broadband across the UK

One of the most exciting developments was the launch of Ka Sat satellite back in December 2010. This nifty little bit of kit, operated by European satellite heavyweight Eutelsat is Europe’s first dedicated broadband satellite and is providing Internet connectivity to rural areas lacking in terrestrial connectivity.

So far it’s proved to be highly successful with take up far exceeding expectations. Ka Sat is the essential piece of the jigsaw that allows the revolutionary 2^nd generation Tooway satellite broadband network to work. Ka Sat and Tooway are already at work filling Europe’s not-spots and providing a super-fast broadband service to homes and businesses that are digitally disadvantaged by the fixed line network.

So it seems that the British space industry is reaching for the stars, despite troubled times here on terra firma. If the sector continues to grow and develop at predicted levels, it could quickly become one of the most important industries in the economy, and something that UK PLC can be rightfully proud of.

Satellite Solutions has been looking to relocate for some time to bring its Billing, Tech Support, Operations, R & D and Provisioning departments all under one roof, and to create a demonstration suite where potential customers can come and try products and talk to technical staff before buying.

Managing Director Andrew Walwyn said

“I always knew a ‘Try-before-you-buy’ scheme would work in the satellite sector where people are often looking at commitment to a product they’ve never used or seen before, but we weren’t prepared for the phenomenal take up.

“The idea is customers can come in with their laptops or other devices and test their applications to show just how good the latest systems are. They can experience how satellite would work for them if they bought the product”.

Satellite Solutions currently offers 6 different satellite platforms on numerous different satellites depending on what kind of work the customer’s doing, whether they’re a home or business users, and whether voice or data are important.

Andrew went on to say

“We’re expanding the range of options that customers can come and try all the time but we already have our TooWay Xtra home user product running here, as well as our iaccess, iconnect and BGAN options.

“We also have new demonstration facilities going live in November ’09 in Clough Road, Hull and just off Junction 5 of the M77 in Glasgow so wherever you are, there’s a demo facility within reasonable travelling distance. We just ask customers to let us know when they’re coming so that we’re ready to welcome them and can get the kettle on”.

(British Association of Public Safety Communication Officers)

Satellite is far more expensive than 3G and offers a level of service that may only rarely need to be used. And for managers looking to cut costs, a move away from satellite is perhaps attractive. However, an assessment of the way satellite communications are used may be a more profitable option in terms of both level of service and costs.

Tom Wheeler, technical manager at Tariam Satellite Communications, admits that satellite communications services are an expensive option. “In the current economic environment, everyone rightly has an eye on costs. The problem is the words ‘cheap’ and ‘satellite’ cannot readily be used in the same sentence for business grade services.

This is because the cost of the satellites and the sophisticated infrastructure has to be passed on to the end customer, as well as the site equipment and basic connectivity. So when you are paying for your airtime and hardware, you are paying for a share of those costs as well. Satellites are expensive to build, launch and run, and the corresponding services are of the highest quality, as this is what the sector demands, and so it’s hard to make the services cheap.”

However, a shift in the type of technology being used may offer a future solution. Tariam’s Wheeler explains: “One of the key factors limiting bringing down the price of satellite communications is the current technology and available satellite capacity in the required spectrum. The vast majority of the satellite capacity for voice and data (IP)
communications over Europe, Africa and the Middle East is on Ku band. However, we are just launching the first services on Ka band in Europe. Because of the way the Ka spectrum works and the frequencies involved, this means we can put up to ten times more data over our network. It is massively more efficient in terms of what we can do, and so we can pass that cost reduction on to the end customer.

“At the moment, there is really only one satellite over Europe providing Ka band and there’s little spare capacity on it, but a new Ka band satellite will be launched in 2010 that will give us substantial more capacity and will enable us to make these reduced cost Ka services more widely available. Ka band equipment is smaller, cheaper and simpler. As a result of the frequencies used, dish sizes are smaller. From the other perspective, much higher
levels of bandwidth can be made available over relatively small and inexpensive equipment. So, over the next few years, the cost of airtime and hardware will reduce significantly, but realistically we won’t see commercial enterprise and government-level Ka-based services being made available much before Q1 2011.”

© The BAPCO Journal.

Reproduced with the kind permission of The BAPCO Journal.

BAPCO is a professional association that promotes the development of efficient and effective communications to provide value for money and effective systems to enhance delivery of public safety and civil contingency services for the benefit of the public and for the benefit of individual public safety and civil contingency services and personnel by means of research, planning, co-ordination and education.

Launched over a decade ago The BAPCO Journal is the only publication in the UK written exclusively for and on behalf of all communications and information technology officers and decision makers within the public safety sector. As the official publication of the British Association of Public Safety Communication Officers The BAPCO Journal serves to disseminate information on all aspects of communications and information technology.

The Management of Satellite Solutions Worldwide has over 60 years experience in telecommunications and logistics, and is also now investing in new infrastructure to support existing and new customers and to continue where Tariam Ltd left off in providing a one-stop-shop for all your satellite communications needs.