Megatrends shaping the satellite sector, operators’ deepest pain points, and strategic maneuvers, from SatShow 2026
RCR wasn’t on the floor at the SatShow 2026, but that didn’t stop us from following the buzz. Here’s what we learned.
SatShow this year was slightly low on energy from what we’ve heard, given that it was just a couple weeks after MWC, and most large operators had already made their biggest announcements at MWC. But the show was on point in capturing the biggest themes dominating the satellite industry in 2026.
Sovereignty pressures
Talk of sovereignty dominated the discussions against the backdrop of rising geopolitical tensions, as countries increasingly prioritize national security and sovereign control of assets.
The regulatory environment has been made increasingly complex by current geopolitics, tariffs, and global supply chains. Side by side, risks of cyberattacks too are growing as commercial and military communication systems are now operating within the same environments.
In a panel discussion, CEOs of SES, Viasat, Eutelsat, Telesat, and Space42 covered how these bottlenecks are prompting a shift in strategy and business models for satellite operators. The regulatory challenges are pushing commercial operators to adopt regionally-aligned supply chain models despite higher costs and lower efficiency.
However, the panel also reminded of the opportunities it brought. “The geopolitical developments that we’re seeing out there are creating, far and away, some of the biggest commercial opportunities for Teleset — and I would say for the rest of us,” said Teleset CEO Dan Goldberg, Space News reported.
A couple examples being: Telesat’s newly-added 500 MHz military Ka-band spectrum for allied defense users which is now part of Telesat’s Lightspeed constellation; Starlink’s direct-to-cell (D2C) service in Ukraine delivered via Ukrainian telecom operator Kyivstar, and SES’s investment in Lynk Global (more on that below) for D2D and LEO satellite deployments.
The CEOs pledged to strengthen industry collaborations around open standards and interoperability to foster a multi-vendor ecosystem. “This is especially important in the face of aggressive competition from SpaceX Starlink and Amazon Leo, whose executives were noticeably absent from the panel,” a CCS Insights report on the SatShow 2026 themes and announcements read.
D2D focus
Direct-to-device (D2D) seized the spotlight with Lynk Global and Omnispace’s merger and announcement of new constellations. Lynk Global’s CEO Ramu Potarazu and SES’s CEO Adel Al-Saleh (SES is a key stakeholder in Lynk), talked over a fireside chat about the merger and their D2D ambitions.
The Lynk Global and Omnispace M&A was announced last year, with the goal to create a merged entity which will provide a comprehensive D2D connectivity solution. According to the companies, the solution will leverage Lynk’s multi-spectrum technology and operator partnerships, and Omnispace’s S-band spectrum and high-priority filings with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) for D2D services.
“We typically get constrained in the industry with the number of bands that we have on a satellite to be able to do different missions. Government military applications require certain bands…And what spectrum you have forces you to do certain things,” Potarazu said, highlighting the importance of multi-spectrum solutions.
The differentiators of the technology both CEOs said will be low cost, a software-based design, and adherence to open standards, making it different from what other providers bring to the table, they claimed.
The new constellation will combine SES’s geostationary Earth orbit (GEO) and medium Earth orbit (MEO) satellites, with Lynk’s LEO assets. The first two launches will include a set of 320 satellites each, making a total of 640 satellites, with commercial services to begin in mid-2027.
The executives also talked about demand for a multivendor approach in the satellite market. “We consider this to be sound reasoning, with Orange Group, for instance, already partnering with four satellite direct-to-device players in different markets: Starlink, AST SpaceMobile, Satellite connect Europe, and Skylo,” CCS Insights wrote in its report.
Multi-orbit at the heart of satellite connectivity
There was a clear emphasis on multi-orbit connectivity which according to experts will be critical to achieving optimal connectivity, rather than just relying on low Earth orbit (LEO) technologies which usually pepper satellite conversations.
SES has been loud and proud about its multi-band, multi-orbit connectivity strategy from the beginning. Its meoSphere, a project announced last year in partnership with a satellite manufacturing startup called K2 Space, for commercial and defense clients, reinforces the Luxembourg-based operator’s strategy and vision.
Al-Saleh revealed plans to initially deploy 28 satellites for meoSphere, with a target launch date of 2030. Orbiting at 8,000 kilometers above Earth, the meoSphere network will tap Europe’s multi-orbit IRIS² constellation, SES’s own software-defined payloads developed in Luxembourg, and the satellite platforms provided by K2.
Aside from these, 3GPP NTN remained a big part of the conversation at the SatShow, reflecting the growing convergence of terrestrial and non-terrestrial networks and operators collaborating to provide ubiquitous connectivity.
