British Airways’ decision to roll out Starlink Wi-Fi across its fleet shows just how important continuous, reliable Internet connectivity has become to our everyday lives.
Where satellite used to be seen as a back-up option, it’s increasingly being regarded as part of our global connectivity backbone, especially as people expect to stay connected wherever they are, even if that’s 38,000 feet in the air.
It’s also a very literal representation of something we’ve known for some time: that connectivity can no longer be bound by geography.
We recently carried out a representative survey in Germany which showed that 70% of people would use satellite Internet if it were stable and widely available, which mirrors exactly what we’re now seeing in the market.
The technology is ready, and so is public demand, but latency remains a key obstacle.
That might not matter for somebody browsing their emails on board an intercontinental flight, but it’s the biggest barrier to satellite connectivity achieving widespread adoption for all use cases.
This move by British Airways and other airlines that have deployed onboard satellite Wi-Fi will do much for the reputation of satellite connectivity.
But for it to become core to our global connectivity infrastructure, the next step should be building the right interconnection pathways – both on Earth and above it.
These pathways will give the satellite technology the low-latency connections it needs to sustain things like real-time AI inference.
Through our Space-IX initiative and the European Space Agency’s OFELIAS project, we’re working on ways to optimize the direct exchange of data between low-Earth-orbit satellites and terrestrial networks – and even between different space-based networks.
The aim is to make these space-based ecosystems as responsive and reliable as those on the ground, so that no matter where users are, on Earth or in the sky, they won’t have to compromise on connectivity.
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