TAMPA, Fla. — Agility Beyond Space (ABS) is keen to embrace new business models and strategic partnerships as the fast-growing satellite market shifts under the feet of the Dubai-based geostationary operator.
“We live in interesting times,” said Mark Rigolle, a satellite industry veteran who took over ABS last year in the latest shakeup for the company.
“While market prices have fallen [for satellite capacity] and continue to erode – although it seems to be going away a little – the cost of buying a new satellite has barely changed,” said Rigolle in an interview with SpaceNews.
“For any operator, simply replacing similar satellites has become increasingly difficult.”
This reality has led ABS to explore new approaches, such as a condosat model, where multiple customers share a single satellite to reduce investment costs and risks.
“We are working on developing a condosat approach in one or two cases,” continued Rigolle, “and we are working on government programs where we will probably get some of the capacity.
Switching to Ka-band
Historically, ABS satellites in geostationary orbit (GEO) have relied on wide-range C- and Ku-band frequencies, but the company is looking to move towards Ka-band spectrum to match the growing demand for higher throughput services. high.
At the 75-degree East orbital position over the Indian Ocean, where ABS currently has two geostationary satellites, the company plans to replace the ABS-2 spacecraft with one equipped with commercial and military Ka-band capabilities once it runs out of fuel later this decade.
At 116.1 degrees East over the Philippines and the South China Sea, ABS is looking for a partner to invest in a satellite to use the Ka-band reservation that the operator has submitted to international spectrum regulators.
“These are the projects we’re trying to finalize now, and hopefully we’ll be able to talk about them in more detail within six months to a year,” Rigolle said.
“There’s light at the end of the tunnel, and it’s not an oncoming train.”
Accommodating Starlink’s growing presence
Smaller satellite operators like ABS are facing increasing competition from SpaceX’s Starlink and other low-Earth orbit (LEO) constellations, which are starting to disrupt traditional GEO capacity contracts.
Starlink, which initially focused on consumer broadband, has been aggressively expanding into government and enterprise services.
While consumer broadband is not part of ABS’ portfolio, Rigolle said the company has yet to feel the effects of LEO competition.
However, he emphasized that ABS’s focus on customers with mission-critical needs has insulated it from the worst of this impact.
“Our enterprise network customers need to be able to rely on the connectivity that is provided to them,” he said. “Best effort service really doesn’t make sense, and so yes, we’ve had an erosion of our revenue base, but it’s been much less than what I’ve seen at some other operators.”
With a global team of less than 160 people, Rigolle highlighted how the company’s small size also provides an advantage by enabling it to respond quickly to customer needs.
“The reporting lines are short,” he added. “Decisions are made very quickly – usually the same day on pricing, service activation and more. That’s what we bring to the market and that’s what customers respond to quite well.”
The multi-orbit future
A former CEO of O3b, the medium-Earth orbit network that was part-owned by SES during his tenure and is now wholly owned by the operator, which also operates geostationary satellites, Rigolle is a strong proponent of strategies with multiple orbits providing greater redundancy and flexibility.
“If you as a satellite operator do not offer [a multi-orbit solution]then the customer will put it together themselves,” he said.
Non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) systems like Starlink must illuminate the entire globe to provide service, he continued, and this global architecture reduces the return on investment as incremental satellites are added.
Rigolle argued that the GEO and NGO systems will eventually have to work together to address these economic challenges.
“Maybe with the relative valuations being totally depressed for GEO operators at the moment, if I were managing a non-GEO network that had deep pockets, I would consider buying some geostationary operators,” he said.
ABS currently provides connectivity to enterprises, service providers, broadcasters and government entities in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific with five satellites: ABS-2, ABS-2A, ABS-3A, ABS-4/Mobisat-1 and ABS -6.
