On June 20, the Satellite Industry Association (SIA) announced the release of its 26th Annual State of the Satellite Industry Report. A report executive summary or set of satellite industry highlights for the year 2022 is available online.
According to SIA's announcement, a total of 2,325 commercial satellites were deployed in 2022, a 35% increase compared to the year before. And at year's end 2022, there were 7,316 active satellites orbiting the earth. Additionally, SIA announced that global satellite broadband subscriptions and revenue combined with satellite radio and remote sensing revenue growth totaled $113.3 billion.
Notably, a June 23 Via Satellite article stated that "the report found that consumer broadband satellite service revenue grew 18% in 2022 to $2.4 billion, while subscribers grew 28%, to nearly 4 million. The majority of revenue comes from Geostationary Orbit (GEO) broadband, but subscriber growth is largely driven by Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) systems. And the article also observed report findings of growth in satellite mobile voice and data revues of 7%.
SIA's report constitutes a reminder of the potential for next-generation satellite technologies to provide viable new choices for high-speed broadband competition and connectivity in difficult-to-reach geographic areas. That potential was discussed by former FSF Legal Fellow Andrew Magloughlin and I in our January 2022 Perspectives from FSF Scholars, "The Broadband Internet Services Market in January 2022:
5G, Cable, Fixed Wireless, Wi-Fi 6, and Fiber Are Benefitting Consumers."
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