Recently, the Chengdu Satellite Internet and Satellite Application Industry Development Plan (2023-2030) was officially released. The Plan emphasizes the key links in the entire satellite manufacturing industry chain and the satellite data application value chain to promote the high-quality development of the satellite Internet and satellite application industry.
According to its development goals, by 2025, the scale of Chengdu's core industry is expected to reach 30 billion yuan, and strive to become a national demonstration base for satellite Internet and satellite application industry, and basically built into a demonstration city;By 2030, it is expected to form a 100-billion-level satellite Internet and satellite application industrial cluster, and build a benchmark city in an all-round way.
In addition, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recently authorized SpaceX to conduct the third demonstration test flight of Starbase at Starbase between December 1, 2023 and June 1, 2024.
The recent release of satellite Internet plans by local governments in China is expected to accelerate the networking and application process of satellites, and at the same time, the resumption of foreign countries such as starships will also help the development of global satellite Internet.
From the perspective of market size, data from Huajing Industry Research Institute shows that the market size of China's satellite Internet industry will be 31.4 billion yuan in 2022 and is expected to reach 44.7 billion yuan in 2025, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12 in the past three years4%。
Satellite Internet is a kind of Internet based on satellite communication, which relies on the launch of multiple satellites to form a wide network coverage, and then build a large-scale satellite system with strong real-time information processing capabilities.
This new network can provide communication services such as broadband Internet access for ground and air terminals, and has the characteristics of wide coverage, low latency, broadband and low cost.
Satellite Internet is an important complement to terrestrial means of communication and can ensure global service coverage.
Compared with ground base stations, satellites have more efficient information dissemination and stronger anti-jamming capabilities in marine communications and airborne communications in the field of aviation. At the same time, satellite Internet can effectively supplement the coverage of ground base stations and optical fiber and cable, and extend communication services to regions and scenarios that are difficult to be covered by traditional communications.
The history of the development of satellite Internet constellations can be traced back to the iridium system developed by Motorola in the late 80s of the 20th century.
In the past 30 years, the main participants in the construction of satellite Internet constellations are mainly commercial enterprises for the purpose of profit.
Since 2014, the development of satellite Internet has entered the stage of integration with ground communication networks: represented by dozens of constellations such as OneWeb and SpaceX, it is positioned to carry out more complementary cooperation and integrated development with ground communication systems, leading the development boom of satellite Internet.
In 2018, the Hongyun Project and the Hongyan Constellation, two major national aerospace projects, successfully launched the first satellite and entered orbit, achieving a breakthrough in the construction of low-orbit broadband communication satellite systems, and China has taken a key step in building a space-based Internet. In addition, a large number of private rocket companies in China emerged around 2015, including Zero Space, Kyushu Cloud Arrow, Smart Flying, Galaxy Power, Blue Arrow Space, etc.
Due to the limited frequency band and orbit resources, countries around the world urgently need to build satellite Internet. The operating frequency band of satellites has been further improved, and it has continued to develop in the direction of high throughput, gradually entering the era of broadband Internet.
Thanks to the support of national policies, technological progress and the help of industrial capital, China's satellite Internet has made substantial progress, and it is expected that the overall launch and networking speed will be accelerated.
Characteristics of the satellite Internet industry:
Data**: CCIDThe current satellite Internet industry chain in China has been basically formed, mainly including satellite manufacturing, satellite launch, ground equipment and terminal products, and satellite services.
Line check |According to the industry research database, the upstream of the satellite Internet is mainly focused on the value of the payload, the ground equipment communication products in the midstream are showing a trend of a hundred flowers, and the downstream is broadening the application scenarios through Beidou + and other ways to accelerate the realization of 6G integration, air-space-ground integration, and communication, guidance and remote integration.
From the perspective of the structure of the satellite industry chain, the ground equipment in the midstream and the satellite service in the downstream account for more than 90% of the market share, while the upstream satellite manufacturing and satellite launch links account for a relatively low share, about 10%.
In the satellite launch link, it mainly includes rocket manufacturing and launch services. The upstream of the industrial chain of rocket manufacturing mainly involves the production of some key materials and components, the midstream includes the production and manufacturing of rocket body structure, engine and electronic equipment, and the downstream of the industrial chain is the integration of rockets. In the manufacturing cost of rockets, the cost of the power system accounts for the highest proportion, especially in liquid rockets, the cost of the power system accounts for up to 70%.
The cost of satellite launch services includes rocket costs, launch costs, TT&C costs, and insurance costs. In general, the cost of the rocket accounts for the highest proportion of the cost component of launching a launch vehicle.
Satellite services are the core value of the satellite industry chain, and China Satcom is a leading enterprise in China's satellite communication operation.
Satellite operations and services mainly include satellite mobile communication services, broadband broadcasting services and fixed satellite services. Satellite communications is a capital- and technology-intensive industry, and it is also a highly regulated industry in China, requiring a license from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology to carry out commercial activities.
Satellite Internet Industry Chain:
Data**: CCID Consulting made a major decision to incorporate satellite Internet into new infrastructure in 2020, marking a milestone in the development of China's satellite technology.
At the same time, the establishment of the new central enterprise Star Network Group has further promoted the development of China's satellite industry.
From 2020 to 2021, the number of registrations of satellite-related enterprises in China has shown explosive growth, and the number of new registrations has increased by 105 year-on-year7% and 611%, and exceeded 30,000 for the first time in 2022.
As of the end of March this year, the number of new satellite-related enterprises in China has reached 9,200, showing a strong momentum of sustained growth.
China has also submitted an application to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) for the layout of 12,992 low-orbit satellites.
The latest statistics show that in the third quarter of 2023, companies related to the satellite industry chain achieved double growth in revenue and net profit attributable to the parent company, reaching 141% and 143%。
The performance of the satellite industry chain continues to be strong, and the growth rate of the profit side has exceeded that of the revenue side, and the profitability has continued to improve.
Compared with other industries, the growth rate of the satellite industry chain is significantly faster, showing that China's satellite industry chain is in a stage of rapid development.
Some representative manufacturers of the satellite Internet industry chain:
From the demand side, the current prosperity of the low-earth orbit satellite industry chain has been launched.
Low-orbit satellites have become a new area of great power competition and competition, and countries have increased their investment. The trend of low-orbit and miniaturization is driving the large-scale deployment of large-scale constellation networking.
From the technical side, the development of high-throughput communication, multi-point beam technology, spaceborne computing and sensing technology, low-cost technology, laser inter-satellite link technology, networking and mobile stations is injecting new impetus into the satellite Internet.
On the policy side, satellite Internet has been officially included in the support focus of the national "new infrastructure" policy, which will provide a strong policy guarantee for the development of the industry.
On the investment side, SpaceX's successful business model provides a reference for future development, and at the same time, China's private capital has gradually entered this field, injecting new vitality into the development of the industry.
Looking forward to the future, with the continuous advancement of China's constellation plan, the prominence of scale effect and the reduction of cost will provide strong support for improving the independent innovation ability of China's satellite Internet industry chain and promote the rapid development of the entire industry.
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