The satellite Internet of Things (IoT) market is undergoing structural change. Once confined to the tracking of assets in areas beyond terrestrial network coverage, satellite connectivity now underpins a broad range of industrial and commercial use cases. The 2025 white paper ‘Rethinking satellite IoT: how spectrum, architecture and technology define addressable markets’ by Transforma Insights, produced in collaboration with Globalstar, examines how factors such as spectrum strategy, network architecture and technology evolution define the market’s opportunities and limitations. This article explores the key themes as laid out in the white paper.
A segmented landscape
Satellite connectivity has always filled critical gaps where cellular infrastructure is impractical or absent. Yet, as technology advances and costs decline, the potential range of applications has expanded considerably. This diversity calls for a re-segmentation of the market, taking into account both the technical characteristics of IoT applications and the approaches used by satellite providers.
Applications vary by data volume, latency tolerance, power budget and geographical scope. Vendors differ by protocol design, spectrum ownership and constellation architecture. Evaluating these dimensions together reveals which satellite solutions can address which kinds of deployments efficiently and economically.
Principal use cases
Satellite IoT now supports a wide variety of sectors. In agriculture and environmental monitoring, sensors deployed across remote farmland or forests measure soil moisture, crop health, water levels, or wildlife movement. Satellite networks make such data collection continuous and independent of terrestrial coverage.
Maritime and logistics applications rely on satellites to track vessels, containers and assets that move across oceans and sparsely populated regions. Hybrid systems that combine cellular and satellite links ensure seamless visibility along global supply chains.
Energy and utilities use satellite connectivity for monitoring critical infrastructure such as oil rigs, pipelines, wind farms and power substations. These systems improve operational safety, enable predictive maintenance and support compliance with environmental and safety regulations.
Satellite IoT also assists emergency and humanitarian operations. In disaster zones where terrestrial infrastructure is damaged, satellites provide reliable connectivity for situational awareness, asset tracking, and coordination of aid. Mining, aviation, remote infrastructure management and defence all make similar use of satellite networks for secure, continuous communication and monitoring in isolated environments.
However, each uses satellite connectivity in very different ways, necessitating a careful assessment of the characteristics of each application to determine the appropriate technology with which to address it.
Technical and operational factors
To determine the most suitable satellite solution, several characteristics of use cases must be considered.
Geographic deployment
Some applications demand truly global coverage, while others operate within national or regional boundaries. The extent to which terrestrial connectivity is used alongside satellite links affects provider choice. Spectrum licensing also plays a role, since some operators hold international rights while others depend on local or shared allocations.
Data volume
IoT devices generate widely differing amounts of data. Low-bandwidth sensors may transmit only a few bytes occasionally, while video or telematics systems may produce gigabytes monthly. Protocols and architectures must be selected to match these transmission needs.
Latency
The importance of real-time communication varies. GEO satellites, located 35,786 kilometres above Earth, introduce delays of around 100–300 milliseconds, while LEO satellites can achieve about 20 milliseconds when a satellite is overhead. Lower orbits offer faster transmission but can experience intermittent availability depending on constellation density.
Cost and complexity
Satellite IoT economics depend not just on service charges but also on hardware cost, integration effort and operational scale. Falling prices and improved spectral efficiency are broadening the viable market. In hybrid deployments that use both cellular and satellite, adding satellite capability to an existing chipset may add little incremental cost.
Energy efficiency
Many IoT devices run on batteries or solar power. Low-energy protocols are therefore essential, as power consumption directly affects operating life and maintenance costs.
The blend of different requirements will dictate which of the available technologies and propositions will be appropriate.
Technology landscape: Protocols and data models
The main focus of the study is on the capabilities of the various IoT technologies and service providers addressing the space. Transforma Insights distinguishes a number of characteristics of satellite IoT technologies and propositions that will dictate how useful they are in addressing the demands noted above.
Proprietary vs standards-based
Proprietary protocols, developed specifically for satellite, are typically more spectrally efficient and less power-intensive. However, they are tied to individual providers and ecosystems. Standards-based systems, such as 3GPP Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN) and LoRaWAN, deliver interoperability and enable devices to operate across multiple networks, albeit with higher connectivity cost and power consumption.
The decision between proprietary and standards-based options depends on whether the priority is minimising ongoing connectivity cost or maximising device flexibility and supplier diversity. Proprietary systems excel in ultra-low-power or messaging-centric applications, while standards-based systems are advantageous where integration with terrestrial cellular networks is important.
Messaging vs IP-based
Another divide lies between protocols optimised for small, infrequent data packets and those supporting higher-bandwidth, IP-based traffic. Messaging systems are ideal for asset tracking, metering and environmental monitoring. IP-based models cater to broadband needs such as video or connected-vehicle applications but require more complex and energy-intensive hardware. The emergence of NTN-NR technology may eventually bridge this divide by extending broadband capability to satellite IoT devices.
Integrating Satellite and Terrestrial Networks
Hybrid connectivity models are becoming central to IoT architecture. The report describes several approaches to combining satellite and cellular technologies.
The 3GPP NTN standard extends cellular technologies such as NB-IoT and 5G NR into satellite links, allowing the same chipset to operate across both environments. This results in near-seamless switching between terrestrial and satellite coverage, especially suitable for applications where most communication occurs via cellular networks but satellite is required as a fallback.
Dual-mode devices include both satellite and cellular radios within a single unit, switching automatically depending on availability. These are common in logistics, agriculture and industrial monitoring. Another model uses gateways that aggregate data from local devices via short-range technologies like Bluetooth or LoRa and transmit it to the cloud over satellite when terrestrial coverage is unavailable.
Each approach has trade-offs. NTN integration is efficient from a hardware perspective but less suitable for extremely power-constrained devices. Gateway-based systems are flexible and cost-effective for clustered deployments but add latency and potential single points of failure.
Spectrum and Frequency Considerations
Spectrum availability determines where and how satellite IoT services can operate. The report outlines use of multiple frequency bands, each with distinct characteristics.
The International Telecommunication Union manages global spectrum coordination, while national regulators issue licences. Operators with Mobile Satellite Service (MSS) spectrum, such as Globalstar, benefit from consistent and exclusive access. Others rely on leased or shared capacity, which can raise costs and regulatory risk.
Differences in frequency allocations between regions add complexity to manufacturing and deployment, often necessitating multiple device variants. The report notes that regulatory initiatives in Europe and elsewhere are moving toward technology-neutral policies to encourage innovation while maintaining efficient spectrum use.
LEO and GEO Architectures
Orbit type is another defining factor in satellite IoT design. Low-Earth orbit (LEO) systems operate between roughly 160 and 2,000 kilometres altitude. Their proximity to Earth allows low latency and high capacity, but maintaining continuous coverage requires large constellations. Devices often need steerable antennas and sophisticated power management. Geostationary orbit (GEO) satellites, fixed relative to Earth, can cover most of the globe with only a few satellites and do not require complex tracking by terminals. However, the long signal path introduces higher latency and limits their suitability for real-time or interactive applications.
In practice, the choice between LEO and GEO depends on the balance between latency requirements, device cost and total cost of ownership. LEO constellations tend to offer better long-term scalability, while GEO systems provide immediate global reach with mature, reliable infrastructure.
Market Maturity and Evolution
The report highlights wide differences in maturity across technologies. Established providers such as Globalstar and Iridium have decades of operational experience, proven reliability, and well-understood regulatory frameworks. Their proprietary, low-data-rate protocols and established supply chains make them dependable for high-volume, low-bandwidth IoT deployments.
Newer entrants, including LEO megaconstellation operators, bring scale and high throughput but remain focused on broadband services rather than constrained IoT. 3GPP NTN implementations are at an early stage, with commercial maturity still several years away. Early adoption carries higher uncertainty and integration cost.
For enterprises, the balance between technical innovation and operational stability remains crucial. Mature, optimised systems continue to dominate low-power IoT markets, while new technologies expand options for hybrid and broadband applications.
Conclusions
Transforma Insights concludes that satellite IoT is entering a new phase shaped by falling costs, maturing standards, and growing integration with terrestrial networks. The market cannot be treated as uniform; it must be segmented according to application demands and technological fit.
Learn more
On the 11th November 2025, Transforma Insights and Globalstar will deliver a webinar exploring several aspects of these developments. Most importantly it will examine the potential pitfalls of considering the satellite IoT as a homogenous single market. During the webinar, Matt Hatton, the founding partner of Transforma Insights, and Martin Jefferson, the global solutions architect at Globalstar, will address topics including:
- The diversity of use cases that comprise satellite IoT, including agriculture, logistics, mining, transportation and energy.
- The key characteristics of those use cases that dictate how they are best addressed, including geography, data volumes, latency, cost and energy efficiency.
- The capabilities of satellite propositions, spanning subjects such as protocol types, spectrum access, constellations, architectures (including consideration of the bent-pipe architecture as a platform for innovation) and maturity of propositions.
- Identification of which characteristics of satellite connectivity propositions are most critical for addressing the requirements of the IoT applications, and thus ensuring application/proposition fit.
We hope you can join us to learn more about this critical area of IoT.
The Virtual Briefing will take place on 11th November at 08.00 Pacific / 11.00 Eastern / 16.00 UK / 17.00 Central Europe.
Register for the webinar here: Webinar – Rethinking satellite IoT: how spectrum, architecture and technology define addressable markets.
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