Photo by Masahiko Ohkubo, available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial license.

[Via Satellite 02-23-2016] Pricing for satellite capacity has fallen at a rate of 2 to 3 percent per year on average since 2010, according to new research from Northern Sky Research (NSR). The firm links the drop in price to industry factors such as Geostationary (GEO) High Throughput Satellites (HTS) and macro factors such as the spread of terrestrial fiber infrastructure, which it expects will result in further price contraction in the coming years.

NSR completed an analysis of satellite operator pricing in its “Satellite Capacity Pricing Index-Q1 2016” report, which incorporates satellite operator inputs across traditional Fixed Satellite Service (FSS) C- and Ku-band capacity, and GEO HTS, including rate-card pricing by region, application, and frequency band. According to the research firm, today’s spot pricing varies significantly based on application and region, and a dichotomy is emerging between growth opportunities in GEO HTS data applications, and traditional FSS video hotspots. NSR finds that these factors have different impacts on pricing based on market.