By Catie Owen
Published: October 9, 2026
Executive Overview
For decades, the telecommunications industry viewed satellite technology through a narrow lens. It was considered a specialized, niche utility—the go-to connectivity lifeline for remote maritime vessels, offshore oil rigs, isolated desert outposts, and adventurers navigating the planet’s most inhospitable terrains. Terrestrial fiber and traditional cellular towers dominated the mainstream economic and urban landscapes, while satellite sat quietly in the background as a high-latency, expensive alternative used only when cables could not reach.
That paradigm has fundamentally shifted. Today, satellite technology has graduated from a localized contingency measure into a critical, strategic pillar of mainstream global telecommunications infrastructure. As enterprise demands for unbroken uptime, hyper-fast deployments, and absolute network resilience soar, communication service providers (CSPs) are rushing to integrate satellite into their core product portfolios.
Ahead of Capacity Europe 2026, Olivier Gommes, Chief Technology and Innovation Officer (CTIO) at Marlink—a leading managed network service provider renowned for building hybrid and satellite-driven resilience—sat down to discuss this seismic industry transformation. According to Gommes, the conversation around satellite is no longer about whether it should be included in a network architecture, but how service providers can seamlessly orchestrate multiple orbits, constellations, and technologies to meet escalating customer expectations.
Detailed Chronology: The Evolution of Modern Satellite Integration
To understand how satellite reached its current status as an indispensable telecom asset, it is necessary to examine how the ecosystem has evolved over recent years, transitioning from sporadic proof-of-concept trials to massive, enterprise-grade deployments.
Phase 1: The Niche and Isolated Deployments (Pre-2023)
Historically, satellite communication was constrained by technological limitations. Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) satellites offered vast coverage footprints but suffered from significant latency, making real-time enterprise applications difficult to support. During this era, satellite deployments were largely isolated. Enterprises used them exclusively for remote operations where laying fiber was financially or logistically impossible. Service providers treated satellite as an afterthought—an outsourced, specialized add-on managed by niche vertical specialists rather than integrated into mainstream IT and telecom strategies.
Phase 2: The Shift Toward Hybridization and Enterprise Trials (2023–2024)
As digital transformation accelerated across European and global markets, organizations began demanding foolproof business continuity plans. Terrestrial networks, while robust, proved vulnerable to fiber cuts, construction accidents, extreme weather events, and geopolitical disruptions affecting subsea cables.
During this window, telecommunication operators began experimenting with hybrid connectivity models. They sought to pair traditional broadband and LTE/5G networks with multi-orbit satellite solutions. However, these early trials exposed a harsh operational reality: integrating diverse satellite protocols, managing multi-vendor hardware, and handling fragmented billing systems created a massive administrative and logistical overhead for traditional telcos. This friction opened the door for managed network service providers like Marlink to step into the value chain, bridging the gap between complex satellite constellations and enterprise service providers.
Phase 3: Mainstream Production and Mass Scalability (2025–2026)
In the span of just twelve years, satellite deployments graduated from localized trials into massive, enterprise-grade production environments. By 2026, thousands of enterprise locations worldwide routinely integrated satellite links into their daily operations.
Market awareness transformed dramatically. Enterprise customers became sophisticated buyers, actively evaluating how Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) constellations could work in tandem with terrestrial networks. Service providers stopped viewing satellite as a mere backup plan and began positioning it as a proactive driver of service differentiation, network security, and aggressive site expansion.
Supporting Context & Metrics: The Multi-Orbit Revolution
The rapid ascent of satellite infrastructure is being propelled by unprecedented technological diversification. Modern enterprise networks are no longer reliant on a single satellite type; instead, they leverage a rich mosaic of orbital architectures.
The Power of Constellations: LEO, MEO, and GEO
- Low Earth Orbit (LEO): Operating at altitudes between 160 and 2,000 kilometers, LEO constellations—championed by providers like SpaceX’s Starlink, Eutelsat OneWeb, and emerging networks such as Amazon’s Project Kuiper—deliver ultra-low latency and high-speed data transmission comparable to terrestrial fiber. These networks are increasingly vital for reinforcing LTE and 5G cellular links, powering edge computing, and supporting real-time cloud applications.
- Medium Earth Orbit (MEO): Bridging the gap between GEO and LEO, MEO constellations offer high throughput with lower latency than traditional geostationary systems, making them ideal for heavy corporate data traffic and maritime fleets.
- Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO): Retaining its value for wide-area broadcast and steady, high-capacity backhaul, GEO provides stable anchors within a multi-orbit strategy.
The Interdependence of Modern Digital Infrastructure
As Olivier Gommes emphasized during his insights, satellite cannot be viewed in isolation. Modern enterprise ecosystems rely on the seamless convergence of several digital pillars:
- Connectivity & Network Performance: Ensuring low jitter, high throughput, and seamless failover.
- Cybersecurity: Securing data pathways across both terrestrial boundaries and wireless space links.
- Cloud & IT Integration: Distributing workloads efficiently between edge devices, local servers, and hyper-scale cloud environments.
- Application Performance: Guaranteeing that mission-critical enterprise software functions without interruption, regardless of geographic location.
When a decision is made in one of these domains—such as deploying a new LEO terminal at a remote manufacturing plant—it triggers cascading implications for cloud routing, security protocols, and operational bandwidth management.
Official Statements and Industry Perspectives
The complexities of managing this multi-faceted technological landscape have redefined the relationship between telecom operators and managed service providers. According to Olivier Gommes, many telcos face a strategic dilemma: they recognize that enterprise customers expect satellite within a modern connectivity portfolio, but they lack the appetite to manage the intricate operational overhead of multi-operator ecosystems.
"For telcos, satellite has become something customers increasingly expect to see as part of a connectivity portfolio," Gommes explained in his pre-event briefing with Capacity.
"Enterprise customers are asking about resilience, back-up connectivity, rapid site deployment and extending connectivity into locations where terrestrial services aren’t always practical."
However, Gommes warns against the hidden traps of independent platform management. A common pitfall for service providers is focusing exclusively on the raw connectivity product while underestimating the rigorous operational model required to sustain it at scale.
"A service like Starlink can appear very straightforward initially," Gommes noted. "But enterprise-scale deployments quickly introduce additional requirements around billing, logistics, network integration, security, installation, support, and service management."
By partnering with agnostically positioned managed service providers like Marlink, telcos can bypass these backstage complexities. Marlink operates at the intersection of the satellite ecosystem and the service provider, harmonizing multiple networks into a unified, integrated offering that simplifies the customer experience while maintaining uncompromising enterprise performance.
Future Outlook: Reinforcing the Global Digital Fabric
Looking ahead, the trajectory of satellite technology points toward deeper integration, heightened security, and an indispensable role in global business continuity.
Subsea Cable Resilience and Diversity
Recent global conversations surrounding the vulnerability of subsea fiber-optic cables have laid bare the fragility of purely terrestrial digital supply chains. A single seismic event, anchor drag, or geopolitical sabotage can sever high-capacity data corridors connecting continents. Satellite infrastructure provides an immediate, independent, and geographically diverse alternative path. By integrating satellite as a complementary piece of infrastructure, organizations can guarantee uninterrupted communication streams even when undersea cables fail.
The Business Opportunity for Telecommunication Operators
For European telecommunications providers—operating within a hyper-competitive, business-centric market—ignoring satellite is no longer an option. As the digital revolution accelerates, artificial intelligence workloads expand, and edge computing proliferates, the demand for ubiquitous, unbreakable connectivity will only intensify.
Satellite represents a major commercial revenue opportunity for telcos willing to embrace hybrid network models. Those that successfully integrate multi-orbit satellite solutions into their portfolios will unlock new enterprise segments, deliver superior resilience, and future-proof their network architectures against unforeseen disruptions.
Join the Conversation at Capacity Europe 2026
The dialogue surrounding the evolution of satellite infrastructure is reaching a crescendo as industry leaders converge in London. Olivier Gommes will take the stage alongside a roster of premier digital infrastructure experts during the Snapshot Presentations: Key developments shaping Europe’s digital infrastructure session at Capacity Europe.
Celebrating its landmark 25th anniversary, Capacity Europe 2026 brings together over 3,500 to 4,000 global decision-makers, innovators, and executives representing the absolute forefront of the connectivity, subsea fiber, data center, cloud, and AI infrastructure ecosystems.
Event Details:
- Dates: October 13 – 15, 2026
- Location: London, United Kingdom
- Registration: Industry professionals interested in connecting with global leaders and shaping the next generation of digital infrastructure can secure their passes via the Capacity Europe Registration Portal.
