The satellite IoT subscriber base surpassed 3.4 million in 2020. The number of satellite IoT subscribers will increase at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 35.8 percent to 15.7 million units in 2025, IoT analyst firm Berg Insight said.
Orbcomm, Inmarsat, Iridium and Globalstar are the largest satellite IoT network operators, the report said.

Orbcomm has transitioned into an end-to-end solution provider, delivering services on its own satellite network as well as being a reseller partner of Inmarsat and others. Orbcomm company had 1.2 million satellite IoT subscribers on its own and Inmarsat’s networks.

Iridium had 1.1 million satellite IoT subscribers.

Globalstar had 0.4 million satellite IoT subscribers.

Other players with connections in the tens of thousands include Kineis in France and Thuraya in the UAE, among others.

Astrocast, CASC/CASIC, Fleet Space Technologies, Hiber, Ingenu, Kepler Communications, Lynk, Myriota, Skylo, Swarm Technologies (SpaceX) and Totum Labs are also in satellite IoT business.

“While most rely on proprietary satellite connectivity technologies to support IoT devices, several are starting to leverage terrestrial wireless IoT connectivity technologies including OQ Technology, AST SpaceMobile, Omnispace, Sateliot and Galaxy Space (3GPP 4G/5G); EchoStar Mobile and Lacuna Space (LoRaWAN); and Eutelsat (Sigfox),” Johan Fagerberg, Principal Analyst at Berg Insight, said.