The Superyacht Shows and Events season has got off to a flying start this last month, with the first of the autumn shows in Monaco. The e3 Team is currently in Barcelona for the Superyacht Technology Conference, a vibrant and well-attended event. On the sporting side, we’ve recently sponsored our first Golf Bonanza event on the Riviera with Intellian, and on Friday 14th, weather permitting, we’re hosting our next e3 Charity Cycling event here in Mallorca, together with Speedcast and Fraser.
The mood at this year’s Monaco Yacht Show was very buoyant. It is very much a B2B show for us. There were few clients in evidence, but it was fun and rewarding to catch up with a lot of our international colleagues, some of whom we haven’t seen for 3 years.
At the Monaco Yacht Show we had several very interesting meetings with Starlink, as well as OneWeb, Kymeta and Eutelsat, all kindly and generously hosted on-board MY White Rose of Drachs by the Captain. We learned a lot, some of which I will reveal in my Update 4 below.
Our fourth charity e3 Cycling Event on 14th October, in aid of Yachting Gives Back, has been heavily oversubscribed. This one is probably the ultimate cycling challenge on our island, attracting cyclists from all over the world. We are calling it “The Big Wriggle” as the route takes our participants down the iconic hairpin switchback to Sa Calobra and then back up again!
Satellite Communications – LEO Super Broadband Update 4
A few months ago, we heard from Starlink that they would be present at the Monaco Yacht Show, and that they would be launching their new flat phased-array panel for maritime use. They expressed an interest in visiting yachts which had been using their Starlink service over the summer months for feedback. So, the e3 Team invited them to join us for lunch on one of our client’s yachts to gather their feedback, which also enabled us to interrogate them on all thing Starlink!
Starlink redefining the Reseller model
Elon Musk, via SpaceX had always planned to sell Starlink direct to the end user, as he has done so successfully with Tesla cars. This would therefore challenge the conventional reseller business model that has existed for years, and which provides an income for many companies across the globe.
SpaceX is vertically integrated and includes the launch rockets, the design and manufacture of the satellites, the management and control of the constellation, the design and manufacture of the ground terminals for both land and maritime. As a result, they are not dependant on anyone. But also, as a result they are disrupting the status quo across the board from the existing satellite operators and providers to the antenna manufacturers and resellers.
They have decided in the maritime market to appoint resellers, but they are redefining the term reseller as it has been conventionally used for many years. Their new definition removes the earning capability of the reseller to buy the airtime at a lower cost than the retail price. With regards to hardware, they are offering a 1-3% discount based on a commitment to buy several thousand units!
Within the weeks leading up to the Monaco Show, Starlink announced they had signed a couple of resellers. The first being Speedcast and the second Marlink which owns Omniaccess. These are the two big satellite providers for VSAT and they both have huge user bases which they have to protect. It’s going to be interesting to see how they do this without earning any income from the Starlink airtime.
What did we learn from Starlink?
They confirmed the use of RV systems at sea will be blocked
As I mentioned last month most yachts using Starlink this summer in the Med have been using the RV system, and it has worked well. As I write this, it is still working well.
As we all know the RV system is intended to be used on land for Recreational Vehicles and is only licensed to be “portable” not “mobile”. The RV system costs a few hundred dollars as opposed to $10,000 for the Maritime system. The monthly airtime for the RV system costs less than $200 as opposed to $5,000 per month for the Maritime system.
When we brought this up with the guys from Starlink they said, “we have stopped it”. I told them they hadn’t as we know of many yachts still using the RV successfully. They seemed surprised and said that it is probably taking time to implement the geofence.
So, we asked them if they were concerned about the income they were losing in the maritime market, and they said this was a major factor in their report back to SpaceX. The new resellers they have signed who have spent many millions with them will not be happy if the use of the RV system at sea continues.
We are discovering that Starlink move fast when they decide to act, so we would predict the Starlink RV system will become very unreliable for use at sea over the next few months.
A new reduced monthly service will be launched
We also learned that Starlink may introduce a lower cost service of around $1,700 per month for maritime use over the next few months. When we asked whether it would be data capped or bandwidth limited, they said this was still undecided, but it will be either one or the other.
Starlink Maritime flat panels launch.
Last month I included our artist’s impression of the new Starlink flat panel. We estimated it would be about 500x580mm with a depth of about 80mm.
The flat panel was revealed at the Monaco Yacht Show and it is indeed remarkably like the one I showed you last month. It shows how accurate my reporting is!
Starlink is also working on many other antenna permutations.
OneWeb using the Kymeta antenna
OneWeb were based in one of the cafés outside the Darse Sud tent, together with Kymeta. As I mentioned last month, they had conducted a sea trial from Monaco in early September using two Kymeta flat panels. The result was successful, with the antenna acquiring and tracking well. Solid throughput was achieved. The video of the sea trial has been distributed on LinkedIn.
I mentioned earlier that we also met with OneWeb, Kymeta and Eutelsat. Eutelsat are one of the largest investors in OneWeb and are currently in a $3.4 billion share transaction merger. We already work with Eutelsat and Kymeta so have a strong working experience with both.
The solution they are offering is interesting, as it’s a step further on than Starlink, but it will not be commercially available until second quarter 2023.
The solution will include two Kymeta u8 LEO/GEO antennas. Only one would be required if there is no mast shadow. The antennas will switch between LEO and GEO using the same panel. When the Eutelsat – OneWeb merger has taken place, a service that includes LEO from OneWeb and GEO from Eutelsat is likely to be provided at a single price, and all will work together on the one Kymeta antenna.
If you want a Starlink LEO with a conventional but highly reliable GEO backup service you will need both Starlink panels and Ku or Ka dome antennas, so the yacht will still be heavily populated with dome antennas.
Interesting days ahead. There is never a dull moment in the superyacht technology world, and the name Starlink is on everyone’s lips!
If you would like more information please go to our website and download a White Paper from (Inside e3 under the Media section) we have written called “The Inside View on SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS – The LEO, MEO, and GEO revolution”.
Please do not hesitate to contact us for further information. e3 Systems will have a booth at METS in Amsterdam from 15th to 17th November. We’ll be running a seminar on Connectivity at the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show on 26th October, and we will be walking the Antigua Charter Yacht Show in December. If you would like to meet up, please let us know.
Roger Horner – e3 systems
e3 VSAT or SUPER DATA
+34 971404 208
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