In this column my focus largely has been satellite services at the consumer level. There is another way to look at this, however, and I was reminded by the recent announcement of big Ka-band plans for Inmarsat.

Personal satellite services also invoke images such as Dick Tracy and his wrist phone (though it was never explicitly linked to satellites) and other such futuristic communications. In fact, you can do this without satellites, as we see every day, but for truly universal coverage satellite is a must.

In the early days of the business, satellites used C-band transponders to connect TV network affiliates to programming from network headquarters. This was a large-scale enterprise and used large-scale dishes. Even when individuals began to access these feeds (TVRO or TV Receive Only) users needed dishes that were, by current standards, huge. With the development of VSAT technology, smaller dishes came into use, and as Ku-band VSATs were introduced, dish size decreased further. What didn’t change was that if you were part of a satellite network you were either limited to receive only service (as in TVRO) or, in the case of VSATs, were part of a predefined network. Even the modern equivalent of TVRO customers, DTH services, provide the consumer an impersonal broadcast signal and is not involved in a truly personal exchange.

An exception to this rule, satellite phones, has existed, in one form or another, for quite some time now. Of course the old Inmarsat suitcase with an umbrella-sized antenna, hardly was convenient. Even later developments, like Iridium or Thuraya, had limited data capabilities and relatively high costs. Although satellite phones were personal, they also were limited.

This situation began to change with the deployment of satellite broadband, but it did not truly take off until the deployment of dedicated Ka-band broadband satellites. Ka-band satellites allowed smaller antennas and offer more spectrum real estate as well as better frequency reuse (through more tightly focused spot beams). Because they are using Internet protocols, broadband users are not limited by network membership or architecture and so, for the first time, satellite’s advantages were available to individual consumers, not just pre-selected groups (like a chain of gas stations).

Satellite broadband has, however, largely been fixed, not mobile. While broadband on the move technically is possible, it is still not economically feasible. Even transportable broadband systems are a far cry from Dick Tracy.

Now, Inmarsat is making a bid to change all of this. With its order of three Inmarsat 5, Ka-band satellites (based on the Boeing 702 platform), Inmarsat will open the door to the use of the full range of satellite capabilities by individuals with its planned Global Xpress service. Given current Inmarsat costs, it likely is that most of these individuals will not be consumers per se, but they will be able to access all of the capabilities that once required membership in some form of larger group, using largely fixed assets. Inmarsat claims its new service will deliver “seamless global coverage and unprecedented mobile broadband with speeds up to 50 [megabits per second], to customer terminals from [20 to 60 centimeters] in size.”

Tiny antennas and speeds faster than the cable company gives me now, if everything works out, will be an amazing step forward. Inmarsat has laid down a marker, betting on what is perhaps the final step in the evolution of satellite services.

Of course, Iridium and Globalstar are in the process of building their next-generation networks and ViaSat/WildBlue and Hughes Network Systems have new Ka-band satellites under construction. While no one has announced plans as ambitious as Inmarsat, it is quite likely that Inmarsat’s announcement will elicit a response from one or more of these players. Inmarsat has a long history as a provider of mobile satellite services, but that does not guarantee that they will, in fact, be the first to reach the goal of fully capable satellite service for individuals, but it seems certain that someone will before long. Given Harbinger’s ownership of Inmarsat, another possibility is that, in the end, these capabilities will end up as part of Harbinger’s LightSquared network even though it does not use the Ka-band itself.

Finally the full gamut of satellite services is becoming available to a single isolated individual, anywhere. Satellite gets personal indeed.

Max Engel is and experienced satellite and telecom industry analyst and founder of The North Star Consultancy. He can be reached at maxengel@thenorthstarconsultancy.