The satellite industry continued its moderate growth trends in 2024 year, even with the rapid increase in the number of satellites. 13 May Satellite Industry Association (IS) published its annual report on the state of the satellite industry, who showed, that the global revenues of the satellite industry in 2024 year reached 293 billions of dollars, what on 3% more, than in 2023 year. This is roughly in line with inflation.
Most sectors of the industry, which are tracked in the long-term report, prepared for SIA by BryceTech, demonstrated a significant growth in 2024 year. Income from the production of satellites increased by 17% with 2023 year before 20 billions of dollars, thanks to valuable government missions, stating Tom Stroup, President of SIA, in the west, devoted to the presentation of the report.
Revenue from launches increased by 30% to 9,3 billion dollars thanks to a record number of orbital launches. Income from ground equipment increased by 3% to 155,3 billion dollars thanks to network equipment, as well as satellite navigation equipment and chipsets.
However, in 2024 revenues from satellite communications fell by 2% to 108,3 A billion dollars. This was driven by a steady decline in consumer video, which is part of wider trends, beyond the satellite industry, as people switch from linear TV to streaming services.
Revenues from satellite television fell by almost 20% with 2021 year, with 88,9 billion dollars to 72,4 A billion dollars. "It's happening gradually", Stroup said of the drop in video revenue. "This is by no means a fall off a cliff".
Other satellite services, although they have much lower incomes, show growth. Satellite broadband revenues grew by almost 30% in 2024 year before 6,2 A billion dollars, while "managed services", which include sea and air connections, grew on 23% to 9 billions of dollars.
The modest growth in revenues contrasted with the number of satellites themselves. The SIA report notes, that as of the end 2024 year in operation was more than 11 500 satellites, which is more than three times higher than the figure 2020 year and 8,4 times exceeds the indicator 2015 year, which is caused by the development of large constellations, especially SpaceX's Starlink.
Jay Schwartz, head of the Space Bureau of the Federal Communications Commission, called the graphical representation of this growth a "cosmic hockey stick" in his speech at the presentation. “When we look at the space hockey stick at the FCC, we actually see a lot of opportunities", he said, citing satellite broadband and Internet of Things services, as well as new opportunities for direct access to devices.
"In a broader sense, we see opportunities for US leadership in space", he continued. It was up to the United States 37% from general 293 billions of dollars in revenues of the satellite industry in 2024 year, but the US share increased by 12% compared with 2023 year, while the rest of the world shrank by 2%.
Source: https://spacenews.com/satellite-industry-continues-modest-revenue-growth-trends/