Feasibility analysis of a Satellite & Broadband Internet ...

Feasibility analysis of a Satellite & Broadband Internet Communications specialised NGO

A Master's Thesis

Submitted to the Faculty of the

Escola Tècnica d'Enginyeria de Telecomunicació de Barcelona

Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya

by

Ignacio Cagiga Vila

In partial fulfillment

of the requirements for the degree of

MASTER IN TELECOMMUNICATIONS ENGINEERING

Advisor: Joan Sardà Ferrer

Barcelona, February 2021

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Title of the thesis: Feasibility analysis of a Satellite & Broadband Internet Communications

specialised NGO

Author: Ignacio Cagiga Vila

Advisor: Joan Sardà Ferrer

Abstract

The objective of this final Master's thesis is to carry out a feasibility study, both at a

technical and enterprising level, of a Satellite and Broadband Internet Communications

specialized NGO.

The thesis develops the business plan of a Non-Governmental Organization that is

specialized in deploying mobile stations that enables a secondary communication

system to temporarily incommunicado population and analyses its viability and

usefulness by scrutinizing the market existing competitors, the NGO’s strategic position,

the perception of potential customers and donors, or the key distribution channels,

among others.

Furthermore, the project reviews the state of the art of satellite communications and the

technical challenges of deploying a Satellite Access Network at a hypothetical disaster

response mission based on a real catastrophe that took place in 2019.

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Acknowledgments

I would like to thank all the friends I have met at the UPC since I moved into Barcelona and

above all, Joan, who has been really encouraging and instructive during this long thesis that

outlived a global pandemic. Thanks to my family, Planeta 13, and Lamli’s Army.

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Revision history and approval record

Revision Date Purpose

1.0 03/03/2020 Document creation

1.1 19/04/2020 Document revision













Written by: Reviewed and approved by:

Date 29/01/2021 Date 30/01/2021

Name Ignacio Cagiga Vila Name Joan Sardà Ferrer

Position Project Author Position Project Supervisor

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Table of contents

Abstract ......................................................................................................................................... 1

Acknowledgments ......................................................................................................................... 2

Revision history and approval record ........................................................................................... 3

Table of contents ........................................................................................................................... 4

List of Tables .................................................................................................................................. 5

List of Figures ................................................................................................................................ 6

1. Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 7

1.1. Objectives .................................................................................................................... 7

2. State of the art ................................................................................................................. 8

3. Business model ............................................................................................................. 12

3.1. Business model Canvas .......................................................................................... 12

3.2. Business idea development .................................................................................... 17

3.2.1. Positioning ................................................................................................................. 18

3.2.2. SWOT ......................................................................................................................... 20

3.2.3. Porter’s Five Forces ................................................................................................. 22

3.2.4. The Traction Bullseye Framework ......................................................................... 26

4. Practical Development ................................................................................................. 29

4.1. Scenario ..................................................................................................................... 29

4.2. Mission needs and requirements ........................................................................... 30

4.3. Commercial solutions and supplier’s analysis ..................................................... 31

4.4. Deployment and data measurement ..................................................................... 34

4.5. Costs ........................................................................................................................... 38

5. Conclusions ................................................................................................................... 40

A. Appendixes .................................................................................................................... 41

A.1 Environment Analysis .............................................................................................. 41

A.1.1 Economic analysis ............................................................................................... 41

A.1.2 Juridical-Legal analysis ....................................................................................... 47

A.1.3 Technological Analysis ....................................................................................... 49

Bibliography ................................................................................................................................ 53

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List of Tables

Table 1: BGAN Terminal Comparison chart [50] ......................................................................... 33

Table 2: Quarterly variation of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at market prices in Spain.

Source: Spanish National Institute of Statistics (INE) .................................................................. 42

Table 3: Annual variation of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at market prices in Spain.


Table 4: Evolution of debt from July 2019 to July 2020 in Spain. Source: Expansión newspaper,

https://datosmacro.expansion.com/ .......................................................................................... 44

Table 5: Public Debt comparison in Europe as of December 2019. Source: Expansión

newspaper, https://datosmacro.expansion.com/ ...................................................................... 45

Table 6: Public deficit comparison by country as of December 2019. Source: Expansión

newspaper, https://datosmacro.expansion.com/v .................................................................... 46

Table 7: The unemployment rate in Spain. An evolution from 2017 to 2020. Source: National

Institute of Statistics.................................................................................................................... 46

Table 8: The unemployment rate in July 2020 in different countries of the Euro Zone. Source:

Expansión newspaper, https://datosmacro.expansion.com ...................................................... 47

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List of Figures

Figure 1: Satellite communications: A brief history from Sputnik to ViaSat-3 [19] ...................... 9

Figure 2: Satellite network role in 5G (source: ESOA17) [Color figure can be viewed at

wileyonlinelibrary.com]............................................................................................................... 11

Figure 3: Adapted Business Model Canvas for NGOs template [21] ........................................... 12

Figure 4: Adapted Business Model Canvas for a Satellite & Broadband Internet

Communications specialized NGO. Source: own compilation .................................................... 17

Figure 5: Cost-Ethical Standards conceptual map Source: own compilation ............................. 20

Figure 46: A SWOT analysis, with its four elements in a 2×2 matrix.[37] ................................... 21

Figure 57: Graphical representation of Porter's Five Forces framework [31] ............................ 23

Figure 68: Traction channels proposed by Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mares. Source: own

compilation ................................................................................................................................. 26

Figure 79: Organization's Traction Bullseye Framework. Source: own compilation .................. 27

Figure 10: Location of Beira in Mozambique. Source: Wikipedia ............................................... 31

Figure 11: The BGAN coverage map. Source: groundcontrol.com ............................................. 32

Figure 12: Humanitarian operations map. Source: Own compilation ........................................ 35

Figure 15: Quarterly variation of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at market prices in Spain.


Figure 16: Annual variation of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at market prices in Spain.


Figure 17: Public deficit comparison by country as of December 2019. Source: Expansión

newspaper, https://datosmacro.expansion.com/ ...................................................................... 45

Figure 18: Basic Satellite Communication System Architecture Fuente: Chapter 5 - Satellite

Telecommunication Systems, Telecommunication Systems (TSYS) subject, MET, UPC ............. 51

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1. Introduction

In August 2005, a Category 5 Atlantic hurricane known as Katrina emerged into the Gulf

of Mexico causing 1.800 deaths and $125 billion in damage, particularly in the city of

New Orleans, USA [1][2]. Three years later, in Sichuan, China, an 8.0 earthquake and

several 6.0 aftershocks left over 69.000 dead people, more than 374.000 injured and

more than 18.000 people reported as missing [3][4]. Years later, in January 2010, just

12 days into the new year, a massive 7.0 earthquake struck Port-au-Prince, Haiti the

poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, leaving roughly 250.000 lost lives and about

1.5M people forced to live in makeshift internally displaced person camps [5][6][7]. One

year later, the great east Japan earthquake in 2011 named Tohoku caused a

catastrophic tsunami leaving more than 450.000 homeless people and over 15.500 lost

lives [8][9][10].

But during this century, not only natural disasters have affected the human population's

lives, homes, and freedoms. Unfortunately, we’ve grown used to seeing how political, or

economical disagreements led to armed conflicts forcing people out of their homes and

cities. Thousands of migrants from Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and

Mexico seeking US asylum as extreme poverty and ultraviolence reigned in Central

American countries [11][12][13]; or the more than 13M Syrian citizens that fled their

country throughout the Syrian Civil War [14][15], are some of the many examples.

The liaison among all those humanitarian crises, both natural or political, is that

conventional communication infrastructures such as terrestrial or mobile networks may

be partially or even completely unavailable and the affected population may be suffering

from isolation and will require an alternative telecommunication system. In these

situations, there are alternative technologies for restoring reliable communication links,

but there aren’t many NGOs covering these needs, and most of the time the national

army or any other governmental force would try to cope with that as well as it might.

This master thesis proposes an NGO that systematically deploys to humanitarian crises,

caused by natural disasters or armed/political conflicts, with a fleet of several satellite

terminals and satellite phones to provide its expertise and support to the affected

population or the humanitarian coordination facilitating the exchange of information and

improving the effectiveness of the general response.

1.1. Objectives

The objective of this final Master's thesis is to carry out a feasibility study of a Non-

Governmental Organization that is specialized in deploying mobile stations that enables

a satellite communication system to temporarily incommunicado population.

Considering the disruptiveness and newness of the services offered, the proposed

business model entails several technical and enterprising challenges that include

providing an effective humanitarian response, identifying and managing humanitarian

missions, support disaster response coordination, defining the most suitable strategy for

the organization’s characteristics and the markets in order to impact as many people as

possible and in the best possible way, defining the NGOs strategic position within the

market, or achieving cost-effectiveness, among others.

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2. State of the art

According to the Directive 2002/21/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 March 2002, a Telecommunications system encompasses the transmission equipment, switching or routing equipment, and other resources that permit the conveyance of signals by wire, by radio, by optical or by other electromagnetic means, irrespective of the type of information conveyed [16]. Both terrestrial and mobile networks are strongly rooted in our daily lives as people grow more dependent on the Internet and on being perpetually “online”. But what would happen if they suddenly get partially or even destroyed? In this case, there are alternative technologies for restoring reliable communication links, such as a global network of communication satellites covering a large part of the earth's surface that offers an alternative way for compact terminals to communicate or to have Internet connectivity in almost any possible situation and for several hours.

Many progresses have occurred in satellite communications systems until this day since the first artificial satellite (Sputnik-1) dedicated to sending atmospheric and climatic data broadcasting in the 20 and 40 MHz bands, was put into orbit in 1957 [17][18][19]. Passing through the first satellites that supported bidirectional voice circuits in the middle of the decade of the 60, or the first satellite system LEO (Low Earth Orbit) of telephone communications at the end of the 90 [17].

The first operational satellites whose main function was the provision of communications systems for military, governmental, or scientific purposes were adapted to exploit the trading potential of this technology. Thus, in 1964 the INTELSAT (International Telecommunications Satellite Organization) consortium was formed, which would be responsible for launching the first satellites (Intelsat I, II, and III) capable of offering more than 240 voice circuits or a bidirectional television channel for commercial purposes [17].

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Figure 1: Satellite communications: A brief history from Sputnik to ViaSat-3 [19]

As technology advanced and production costs became cheaper, more companies and

associations began to build satellites to meet the needs of different states, firms,

navigation companies, and other organizations with large needs of communications

traffic. Nowadays, there are many Service Providers and manufacturers that ease the

usage of satellite communications as an alternative and affordable option, and the future

beholds a promising and stable future for this technology:

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• Costs reducing: SpaceX has begun to use a reusable launch system or

reusable launch vehicle (RLV), which allows recovering the propellants used to

put capsules or satellites into orbit.

At the beginning of 2019, the Iridium NEXT constellation, developed and built

by Thales Alenia Space leading an industrial consortium, managed to complete

its network of 75 operational satellites orbiting in LEO thanks, in part, to the

participation of SpaceX in the final phase of the deployment of the network with

your Falcon-9 block 5 vehicles.

In addition to the Falcon 9, the Electron from Rocket Lab, and the Miura 5 from

PLD Space, they are launch systems that reduce the cost of a launch between

10 and 100 times.

• Sat5G: The fifth generation of mobile telephony is currently in an initial

deployment phase, but exponential growth is expected between 2020 and 2030.

Several projects and whitepapers (SPECSI, MENDHOSA, and INSTINCT,

CloudSat, SANSA, VITAL, RIFE, and SCORSESE) have already studied the

role that satellite communications can play as an integral part of the 5G

ecosystem so as to achieve Key Performance Indicators ( KPIs) minimum

established for adequate service.

The ubiquity of satellite systems, their mobility, the capacity for broadcast

transmission, or the reliability and resilience of the network, are characteristics

that make a mixed Sat5G scenario possible where business opportunities can

be grouped into two categories:

▪ Offloading and caching in the fixed network: provision of alternative or

overlay paths for (a) connecting data centers to 5G core network

gateways where there are no terrestrial or economically viable paths and

(b) connecting the core network to semi-centralized or centralized

virtualized eNodeB processing centers.

▪ Backhaul: Provision of alternative or overlay paths for backhaul

connections to 5G cells in all layers (macro, micro, etc.). Opportunities

are (a) backhaul to cells in remote areas that are installed to achieve a

certain coverage obligation, for example, to satisfy license or contractual

requirements, and where a terrestrial link is not economically viable, (b)

cells that need fast deployment and cannot wait for terrestrial

provisioning, (c) deployment of cells for temporary events, and (d)

deployment of small mobile cells mounted on public transport, on high‐end cars, or emergency service vehicles.

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Figure 2: Satellite network role in 5G (source: ESOA17) [Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]

• Internet of Things (IoT): In many cases, the IoT terminals are distributed in

remote areas or topographic points of difficult coverage from the point of view

of conventional terrestrial communication systems. The most viable solution is

to cover these terminals with LEO satellite networks, which are characterized

by their low delay, reduced propagation losses, and global coverage.

In recent years there is a race in the space industry for the deployment of private

satellite constellations for commercial exploitation. OneWeb, SpaceX's Starlink,

and Amazon's Project Kuiper are the three companies called upon to provide

an internet connection to the nearly 3.8 Billion people who still do not have it,

and they are the ones who could provide connectivity to the aforementioned IoT

systems thanks to their LEO satellite clusters. To give numbers on this space

race, at present it is estimated that about 2,000 satellites are orbiting in the LEO

orbit; and Starlink alone plans to deploy 12,000 satellites by 2027.

But, in spite of all the different technologies and providers available in the market, and

promising forecasted improvements, there aren’t many organizations or companies that

cover the physical deployment of a Satellite Access Network, and much fewer if you think

in non-profit organizations aimed at disaster response scenarios where the final users

won’t be able to afford the costs and Non-Governmental Organizations enter the scene.

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3. Business model

In order to define the organization's business structure, the Canvas model is used as the

cornerstone for developing the value propositions and how the revenue pattern is

structured. Once the business idea framework has been depicted, the project will go

through its development, understanding all the different relationships that the

organization has with its surroundings and how it may affect its feasibility.

3.1. Business model Canvas

The Business Canvas Model is generally used to define the strategy of new business models (What its value proposition is, how the company fulfills it, who the main beneficiaries are, ...). It was firstly proposed by Alexander Osterwalder in 2004 [20] and, since its publication, specific adaptations for different market segments have appeared.

In this thesis, The Business Model Canvas for NGOs introduced by Judith Sanderse in 2014 [21] will be used as it is an adaptation of the work of Osterwalder and Pigneur on the third-party funding business model (2010). It uses a more consistent terminology specifically designed for Non-Governmental Organizations and it was tested in interviews with various specialists and directors of several NGOs, proving its practical relevance and the usefulness it brings compared to the classic business model canvas.

Figure 3: Adapted Business Model Canvas for NGOs template [21]

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• Value propositions

During the last decades, the number of natural disasters and political conflicts

have increased as well as its impact has on the human beings that suffered from

isolation, famine, poverty, or homelessness among others because of those

kinds of situations. The organization is specialized in enabling satellite

communications systems for temporarily incommunicado populations by

deploying mobile stations equipped with a Satellite Access Network that offers

the affected users a possibility to make a phone call to their relatives or to

contact and locate other people who may have been cut off due to the same

situation they are experiencing. The affected population can also make use of

several deployed computers with Internet access so that they can e-mail their

relatives, check the news and the external opinion, or receive advice and official

communications aimed at solving their primary needs in a particular situation.

In the same way, these deployed mobile stations can help humanitarian

coordination by offering other non-profit non-governmental organizations with a

communications system during their own missions. The organization’s

telecommunications tents can be also helpful to quantify the number of affected

users and it can serve as a tool to locate and unite them with their relatives.

By extension, the NGO’s proposition secures the availability of conventional

communication systems in a reliable way for all the people under private or

public bodies’ responsibility scope.

Lastly, the organization aims to serve as a referent for IT-related students,

professionals, and concerned people for volunteering or to collaborate as a

donor with its disruptive technology solutions that allow a more effective and

tailored emergency response in order to reduce the impact on the affected

populations.

Both the advantages of satellite communication systems over conventional

terrestrial systems (radio, 3G, 4G, 5G, …) listed in Appendix A.1.3, and the

forecasted industry improvements depicted in chapter 2, grants the satellite

industry a promising development in the years to come.

• Ultimate beneficiaries

The target group who the organization principally aims to reach and serve to

achieve its vision/mission on a B2C (Business to Customers) basis amasses all

kind of people that lack access to conventional communication systems such

as the phone network, GSM, 3G, 4G, …They may be suffering from temporary

isolation due to a natural disaster or any other type of external agent (civil wars,

migration, etc.) and the NGO can facilitate an alternative solution based on its

disruptive offering. Within this group of end-beneficiaries, there are other NGOs

and humanitarian coordination bodies that require B2B (Business to Business)

services comprising a satellite link deployment (bandwidth, satellite phones,

PCs, BBDDs, etc.), IT support, or specific data reports (volume of aided people,

reported as missing, lost lives, …) during the deployment of a specific project.

By extension, the organization is serving the private and public bodies (such as

national governments) under whose responsibility lies the well-being of its

population, by offering them an alternative telecommunication network.

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Lastly, during its mission’s deployment, the organization would be also assisting

all the relatives and close friends of the people that resulted temporarily affected

and who wish to contact them or find out about their situation.

On second thoughts, the NGO can be reaching people who sympathize with the

organization’s values and who might not be directly related with the missions’

root causes, but who are willing to collaborate by volunteering or by becoming

donors.

• Relationships

With the main beneficiaries (the people affected, their close relatives, and their

close friends) the NGO maintains a personal relationship, by traveling to the

affected region with qualified personnel and accompanying the affected ones in

the delicate situation they are in (installing all the equipment, teaching them how

to use it, etc.).

Subsequently, the NGO maintains a transparent and collaborative relationship

with the public and private organizations that finance and enable each of the

projects, through aggregated data, executive reports of the service, or more

agile coordination sessions with the authorities or any other deployed NGOs.

Finally, agreements must be created with other NGOs to create long-term

patronage/sponsorship contracts, which facilitate the identification of potential

needs, the coordination of joint projects, the continuous improvement of the

service provided, and helps to gain popularity. An essential point for achieving

the organization’s success and feasibility lies in how to focus on the right

channels for distribution resulting in a surge of customer/donor acquisition. In

chapter 3.2.4, the Bullseye Framework depicts why creating these long-term

partnerships with other NGOs represents the ideal traction channel for the NGO.

• Program Delivery Methods

With both the affected users and all the other NGOs and humanitarian response

bodies served during a specific deployment, the organization maintains a direct

interaction and onsite/online meetings in order to adapt and correct any possible

aspect non-compliant with the agreed SLAs (proposals, initial scope,

methodology, the temporary planning of the service, the estimated costs,

forecasting, metrics, monitoring, QoS, bottlenecks, etc.).

Besides that, the NGO creates strategic partnerships with a range of

international and local organizations and periodical committees need to be held

to revise the correct operation methods and potential improvement points of the

joint ventures.

As explained in chapter 3.2.4, part of the organization achieving its mission and

delivering its value propositions lays in choosing adequate traction channels,

resulting in a surge of customer/donor acquisition. Apart from creating strategic

partnerships with other NGOs (what the Bullseye Framework calls as Business

Development), Speaking Engagements and Targeting Blogs are the two other

chosen channels because they are frequented by most of the target audience

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and that is where the NGO can engage them the most (Forums, Congresses,

Conferences, Blogs, Reddit, etc.).

• Key Activities

The key actions that the organization needs to perform to create its value

propositions and satisfy the basic needs of its ultimate beneficiaries by

deploying a complete mission starts at being able to identify the people's needs.

The organization firstly needs to have the means of identifying potential needs

and catastrophically situations to travel to. As the NGO lacks the means to do it

by itself and it is not a part of its value proposition, strategic partnerships with

more mature organizations that have a wider operating area can be the key to

easily identify potential needs and coordinate joint humanitarian responses.

After having the ability for identifying potential needs, the organization needs to

estimate the mission’s characteristics and requirements so that they can

dimension the satellite link and deploy the potentially required resources. Along

with this pre-study, the organization will analyze all the commercial solutions

and manufacturers that best fit each mission in terms of cost reduction, ease of

transportation, or inter interoperability. Managing the key resources to

adequately dispose of a project is one of the most important actions to be

covered. Although the rationale behind each project may differ, they all require

almost the same type of devices to deploy the satellite access network

(bandwidth, terrestrial antennas, switches, computers, satellite phones, routers,

…) so buying in bulk or establishing long time agreements with several

manufacturers and service providers in order to reduce the NGOs expenditures

incurred in when deploying a mission.

Lastly, the key activity to be fulfilled during every mission recalls data

measurement and reporting for other NGOs, or the responsible public and

private bodies to assist the humanitarian coordination.

• Key Resources

Concerning the key activities followed to deploy a mission, the organization

needs specific physical, financial, intellectual, or human assets to make the

business model work.

Physical Resources, such as the equipment that the organization must have to

deliver its value proposition, and which the ultimate beneficiaries will make use

of (VSAT/BGAN antennas, satellite phones, laptops, routers, tents, electric

generators, tables, etc. chairs, tents, etc.); as well as human resources, such

as technical personnel specialized in the deployment and handling of satellite

terminals and hubs (Engineering, Information Technology, Computer Science,

… Bachelor degrees or HNC) or volunteers that may result as a profitable

temporal workforce to facilitate the NGO’s value proposition.

Please see Appendix A.1.3 for more details on the satellite communications

network segments and their key components.

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• Key Partners

Among the described key activities, some of them cannot be carried out by the

organization itself and that require partnerships and patronage contracts to be

established.

The organization will mainly establish business alliances with any other Non-

Governmental Organizations (e.g. Télécoms Sans Frontières, Open Arms,

A4AI,…) to facilitate the identification of new project opportunities, help lowering

costs of service deployment (and therefore the profit margin), and allow finding

points of improvement in the service provisioning. In chapter 3.2.4, the Bullseye

Framework depicts why creating these long-term partnerships with other NGOs

represents the ideal traction channel for the NGO.

Additionally, the organization will establish strategic alliances with Satellite

Network Operators (e.g. Hispasat, SES, Intelsat, Inmarsat, …), Network

Providers, and manufacturers (e.g. ViaSat, Hughes, iDirect, …) that helps the

organization on reducing the spent on OPEX and CAPEX expenses for each

project, such as the bandwidth required for each deployment, or the antennas,

terminals and other necessary equipment. This kind of alliance may result in a

positive impact for those private companies too as they can show off being

concerned with its social impact and collaborating with an innovative socially-

oriented startup organization.

Please see Appendix A.1.3 for more details on the agents involved in the

provision of a satellite communications service.

• Expenditure

The main expenditure spotlights the managing of all the key resources and

equipment needed to deploy the satellite communications access network. This

amasses practically each of the organization’s key activities.

Along with the equipment managing, outsourcing the satellite bandwidth is the

second expenditure in magnitude in the importance scale.

Lastly, the NGO also faces the employees’ salaries (the organization’s second

key resource) and the collateral expenses derived from the mission’s

deployment.

• Income

Analyzing the economic income streams that feed the organization’s cash flow

and that it has available for working on its value proposition and addressing the

needs of the affected one we can differentiate two entities:

The first one, which can represent up to 60% of the organization's funding

streams, is the public segment. It is made up of grants from local, regional, state,

or international administrations.

On the other hand, the private segment includes both donations from

companies and entities aware of their social impact, as well as donations from

individuals or Other People’s Money (OPM) who can freely choose the

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frequency and amount of money they wish to donate, Venture Capitals, etc.

Other examples of private financing channels can be crowdfunding,

growfunding, collaborations with brands that help lower the cost of the services

provided, patronage, selling merchandising, renting / leasing of terminals or the

bandwidth contracted to other organizations, etc. As stated in the appendix

A.1.1, it is vital to ensure that private funds do not represent a critical share of

the organization’s sources of income so that the organization can continue

operating without being affected by fluctuations in the macroeconomic

indicators.

Finally, within the non-monetary income streams, the organization

contemplates volunteering as an essential stimulus to carry out many vital tasks

and activities that facilitate the development of the NGO’s value proposition. In

this regard, volunteers are seen as one of the organization’s key resources.

All these summarized ideas give purpose to the following canvas/deck:

Figure 4: Adapted Business Model Canvas for a Satellite & Broadband Internet Communications specialized NGO. Source: own compilation

3.2. Business idea development

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The organization’s business idea consists of offering a satellite coverage service to

private and public organizations or bodies suffering from catastrophic situations where

the people under their own direct responsibility may be lacking the means to make a

phone call or accessing the Internet (temporary uncommunication).

The organization fulfills this business idea by deploying mobile stations or tents acting

as the satellite network access segment that will provide the affected users with several

stations equipped to enable them to make a phone call to their relatives or to contact and

locate other people who may have been cut off due to their same situation. The final

users can also make use of several computers with Internet access so that they can e-

mail their relatives, check the news and the external opinion, or receive advice and

official communications aimed at the particular situation.

In this section, the business idea will be developed and tested with the help of different

tools such as Porter's five forces model or the 4 actions framework. Besides that, an in-

depth analysis of the positioning and targeting that the business idea must follow is

conducted in the following bullets.

3.2.1. Positioning

Positioning refers to the place that a company occupies in the minds of

customers concerning the competitors. To identify suitable positions that a

company or brand might occupy in a given market, analysts often turn to

techniques such as perceptual mapping or correspondence analysis. [22]

• Differentiation

Offering service differentiation leads to competitive advantage and consists

of identifying a set of possible internal advantages to build a position on by

providing a superior value proposition.

The organization offering differentiation lays in its social value, impartiality,

and non-profit premise. Those key aspects are discernible in the service

offering price values and they may differentiate the NGO from other

competitors when a private or public body (such as national governments)

needs an alternative communications network to give back to the people

under their responsibility the ability to communicate in times of need.

• Market rivalry

In order to be able to analyze the actual sector rivalry situation among other

organizations and competitors, a small study has been carried out among

a total of four companies/bodies that can be placed as a direct competition

to the service the NGO proposes, these five entities/bodies are Armed

Forces, Open Arms, Red Cross, Inmarsat, and Télécoms Sans Frontières.

The solution provided by each of these entities will be analyzed and

compared with the service offered by this thesis’ organization to be able to

resolve the competitive positioning analysis along with a perceptual

mapping representation:

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o Armed Forces [23]: Given that this pattern can be extrapolated to any

other country that hosts a redundant satellite network for surveillance,

communications, or military purposes among others, this study is focused

on the Spanish Armed Forces’ satellite capabilities. Since more than a

decade ago, the Spanish Armed Forces maintains an operative use of its

own satellite communication model known as SPAINSAT and it leads the

GOVSATCOM European initiative in the EDA field. This body possesses

all the essential resources, technology, and knowledge needed to offer a

similar service as the organization does, but the expenses of the satellite

core network deployment, its maintenance, the army’s limited operating

area, and its military-oriented mindset withdraw it from the rivalry map.

o Open Arms [24]: This Spanish NGO is devoted to protecting those who

try to reach Europe by sea, fleeing from armed conflict, persecution, or

poverty. This thesis organization purpose and Open Arms’ may collide or

concur in some aspects. Although both non-profit non-governmental

organizations start a similar economical structure, Open Arms lack the

knowledge and expertise on installing and operating satellite

telecommunications networks (they have already collaborated in several

missions with other NGOs and entities with a stronger IT background

[25]), which harms its positioning on the perceptual map.

o Red Cross [26][27]: This centenary international humanitarian movement

possesses the necessary workforce, means, longevity, and solvency to

become a tough rival. Its de-centralization into three different entities and

its shortfall of experience in disaster response missions requiring a

stronger IT skillset may slightly harm its location on the perceptual map.

Nonetheless, its presence in more than 190 countries and its expertise in

disaster response and humanitarian help missions places Red Cross

close to the origin of the coordinate system.

o Inmarsat [28]: As the leader satellite Service Provider (SP), Inmarsat

possesses all the required resources, maturity, and solvency to burst into

the market and becoming a serious threat at almost zero cost. However,

its enrichment intentions displace Inmarsat from the non-profit market

rivalry layout and belittle it as an actual competitor.

o Télécoms Sans Frontières [29]: Founded around twenty years ago, this

organization is specialized in emergency-response technologies and has

evolved into the IT-related NGO model thanks to its more than 140

humanitarian missions. It is stated as the “big rival” but its maturity and

background in the sector can also be taken as an advantage for this thesis

organization as the ideal partnership to be held. Besides that, the size

difference among both NGOs can imply important ease for cost-cutting

and rivalry narrowing.

• Perceptual mapping

20

Perceptual mapping consists of a spatial image of how consumers view

services, products, or brands within the market. It also allows asset

marketers to determine how your product appears in comparison with rival

companies.

The figure hereunder displays the comparison of both the cost and the

purpose of those five potential competitors analyzed in the previous study:

Figure 5: Cost-Ethical Standards conceptual map Source: own compilation

Among the competitors studied in the preceding perceptual map, Télécoms

Sans Frontières may be seen as the most threatening one regarding its maturity and professional background in emergency-response technologies.

As stated before in the business model canvas, and so the Bullseye

Framework affirms in chapter 3.2.4, this rivalry can be narrowed or actually

removed by creating a strategic partnership that eases the identification of

potential needs, and that can result in coordinating joint humanitarian

responses.

3.2.2. SWOT

To adequately define the strategy to be followed by the organization so that

it can impact as many people as possible and in the best possible way, it is

important to determine what competitive advantages the organization has

over its rivals, and what strategy is best based on both its own

characteristics and the markets.

To do this, the technique known as SWOT Analysis is frequently used. It

was originally proposed by Albert S. Humphrey in a study at the Stanford

Research Institute during the 1960s [35]36].

21

Figure 46: A SWOT analysis, with its four elements in a 2×2 matrix.[37]

The analysis is intended to specify the objectives of the business project

and identify the internal and external factors that are helpful or harmful to

achieving the organization’s purpose and milestones. The name is an

acronym for the four parameters the technique examines:

• Strengths

They are characteristics of the organization that give it a competitive

advantage over the rest of the rivals. Some examples of strengths

considering this specific NGO are:

▪ Social value and High Ethical Standards.

▪ Face-to-face relationship with final users.

▪ NGO’s potential progressive growth.

▪ Strong telecommunication systems knowledge.

▪ Board of Directors, employees, and volunteer’s commitment,

motivation, and trust with the new organization and missions.

▪ Ease to lower costs because of the NGO’s size and its non-profit

reason.

• Weaknesses

Weaknesses refer to all the organization’s characteristics that place the

project in a harmful situation against its rivals and that can pose a barrier to

its development:

▪ Uncertainty of upcoming needs/projects.

▪ Initial low customer base.

▪ Youth / Lack of experience.

▪ Lack of reputation.

▪ High dependency on partners and providers (see Appendix A.1.3).

22

• Opportunities

Beneficial situations or elements in the environment that can be exploited

to the organization’s advantage:

▪ Strategic Partnerships with other non-governmental

organizations.

▪ Possibility of deploying longer missions whose root causes may

differ from temporary catastrophic situations (E.g. remote

incommunicado villages, islands, etc.).

▪ Lack of competitors in Spanish-speaking countries.

▪ Increasing needs from final users (more armed conflicts, more

natural disasters, …).

▪ Cost reducing opportunities in the satellite industry (see chapter

2).

• Threats

They are detrimental or negative situations or factors in the environment

that could endanger or cause a problem to the organization. It is advisable

to consider strategies to reduce the impact of the following threats

▪ General mistrust on NGOs (lack of donors).

▪ Bigger and more mature NGOs may copy the business model and

become a competitor facing few troubles.

▪ New disruptive technologies and substitute services.

▪ Economic situation (see Appendix A.1.1).

3.2.3. Porter’s Five Forces

Porter's Five Forces model proposes a framework for systematic strategic

reflection to determine the competitive intensity and, therefore, the

attractiveness of an industry in terms of its profitability and liability. This five-

forces framework was first published in the Harvard Business Review in

1979 [30].

23

Figure 57: Graphical representation of Porter's Five Forces framework [31]

The analysis focuses on the organization’s microenvironment to study the

existing rivalry in the sector by analyzing those five forces close to a

company that may affect its ability to serve its customers and make a profit:

• Bargain power of buyers/beneficiaries

The bargaining power of beneficiaries refers to the pressure that the public

or private organizations to which the service is provided can exert, to obtain

higher quality service, at a lower cost or for a longer time.

Starting from the affected users, as the organization’s main ultimate

beneficiaries, their bargain power is actually null because they are mere

receivers of the provided service and cannot interfere with the agreed SLAs

and costs.

On the other hand, the bargaining power of all the non-governmental

organizations, companies, and public bodies purchasing the NGO’s

services supposes a high bargain power even though it cannot be

considered as a high criticality risk. The scarcity of competitors and the

differential advantage that the organization has over other potential

companies that can provide the same service even at a lower cost, (thinking

about its social purpose and higher ethical standards) leave this group of

beneficiaries with a limited bargain power.

• Bargain power of suppliers

This force analyzes the reliance that the organization has on its main

suppliers that provide it with its key Resources or that the organization

depends on to develop its key activities such as Satellite Network

24

Operators, Service Providers, or manufacturers. Appendix A.1.3 lists more

details on the agents involved in the provision of a satellite communications

service.

In this case, the bargaining power of the suppliers is considered critical

because the main activity of the organization has a strong reliance on the

outsourcing of satellite bandwidth and the acquisition of all the necessary

equipment, being both key resources that the NGO cannot develop or

produce by itself.

This force aggravates when considering the shortage of providers

specialized in satellite communications and their decision-making power

over the final price of the items or services contracted.

For example, if Inmarsat were to increase the price of the antennas and

terminals needed during an emergency response deployment, it will

translate into a more expensive and therefore a less competitive and

profitable service.

With all that being said, from the point of view of the organization’s

suppliers, the NGO is just one contractor among the hundreds of thousands

they have, and considering that the suppliers may raise the agreed costs is

just a naïve thought.

• Threat of new entrants

This third force analyzes the ease that potential competitors have for

entering the business and therefore becoming a threat to the organization.

The entry of new competitors poses a low criticality risk for the NGO since

a wide variety of companies and organizations may be able to offer a similar

service facing lesser obstacles, but their ethical standards and the fact that

the potential profits may only cover the incurred costs, withdraw them from

the rivalry map scenario. Among the potential competitors are:

▪ The public or private organizations that decide to offer the service

themselves given the individuals’ needs under their area of

responsibility, for example, through the local military body. In

these situations, the new entrants may possess the necessary

resources, but they are lacking the social values that recognize

them as actual competitors.

▪ Companies already established in the sector, such as Mobiles

Service Providers, whose initial investment can be expected to be

much smaller in order to start offering the same services as this

organization. In the same way, this kind of companies’ absence of

social values and humanitarian-oriented purposes belittles them

as actual competitors.

▪ More mature non-governmental organizations that decide to start

covering these types of needs and may be considered the most

serious competitors. The fact that the potential profits may only

cover the incurred costs could make them decide to subcontract

the service to specialized companies or organizations such as this

thesis’.

25

In order to nullify the already low impact that new entrants have on the

future of the organization, measures must be taken that favor

differentiation, which can increase customer and investor loyalty. Being a

non-profit organization already differentiates this NGO from the first and

second group of potential competitors on account of the social value it is

adding to the initial service offering.

As mentioned in previous chapters (model canvas’ key partners, market

rivalry, SWOT’s Opportunities, …), the organization definitely needs to

establish business alliances with other Non-Governmental Organizations

(e.g. Intermon, Télécoms Sans Frontières, …) to facilitate the identification

of new project opportunities or help lowering costs of service deployment

(and therefore the profit margin). These business alliances will transform

potential competitors into partners

• Threat of substitute services

Neither the value proposition, nor the business model proposed by the

organization, nor the technologies used to satisfy the needs of the

beneficiaries, are irreplaceable or uncopiable. In fact, the organization can

be considered a facilitator of the resources and technologies necessary to

enable an emergency satellite communication system.

The deployment of new public or private satellite networks or the

emergence of newer topologies (for example, Alphabet's Loon project that

uses hot air balloons as portable base stations to create a 4G network

[32][33][34]) represent the only menaces of substitute services and put up

an affordable threat to the well-being of the organization.

Please see Appendix A.1.3 for more information on the advantages of

satellite communication networks and their key components.

• Rivalry among existing competitors

Understanding that the fifth force, the rivalry among existing competitors,

can be seen as the sum of all the threats resulting from the four previous

forces, the organization finds itself in a sector with a low intensity of direct

competition, which makes its projection secure as long as strategic

partnerships are established.

The most critical risk that the NGO faces are focused on the key partners

needed for offering its value proposition. The dependency that the NGO

has on its suppliers and their relative bargain power, the adaptation of more

mature non-profit non-governmental organizations, or the appearance of

similar NGOs make it difficult for the organization to grow up in the sector

without investing and studying its key partner relationships.

It is extremely necessary to make strategic partnerships in the form of

minority equity investments, joint ventures, or non-traditional contracts

(such as joint R&D, long-term sourcing, shared distribution/services) to

achieve greater differentiation and reduce the level of previous threats.

26

In conclusion, the organization’s value proposition has been proved to be

highly indispensable and there aren’t sufficient alternatives/competitors on

the market to cover the tangible necessities.

3.2.4. The Traction Bullseye Framework

An essential point for achieving the organization’s success and feasibility

lies in how to focus on the right channels for distribution resulting in a surge

of customer/donor acquisition. Poor distribution— not service offering— is

the number one cause of failure for startups.

In this way, the thesis uses the Traction Bullseye Framework introduced by

Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mares in their book called Traction: How Any

Startup Can Achieve Explosive Customer Growth, and published in August

2014 [38], to find the appropriate distribution channel(s) for the NGO. The

bullseye framework is a method that offers help to prioritize over the

marketing channels that will make the company gain traction.

It is a five-step process that comprises Brainstorming (reasonable ways you

might use each traction channel, what have worked in the industry, how

similar NGOs acquired customers, etc.), Ranking (helps to organize the

brainstorming efforts and thinking critically), Prioritizing (identifying the

inner circle that gathers the three traction channels that seem most

promising), Testing (putting the ideas into practice and finding out which

one of the three inner circle channels is worth giving focus) and Focusing

(sticking to the traction channel that dominates in terms of customer

acquisition and uncover effective tactics and patterns) [39].

Weinberg and Mares’ book identifies 19 marketing and distribution

channels through which any startup can gain traction [38] and asks to

classify them into three categories or rings depending on the possibility of

success that each channel can offer to a specific company.

Figure 68: Traction channels proposed by Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mares. Source: own compilation

27

The outer ring (What’s possible) is meant to help you systematically

counteract your traction channel biases. It is important not to dismiss any

traction channel in this step and thinking of at least one strategy for every

channel. The Middle ring (What’s probable) should gather around six of the

proposed channels and is made up by running cheap traction tests in the

channels that seem most promising. Lastly, the inner circle (What’s

working) is fulfilled at the last step of the study in which the aim is to focus

solely on the distribution channel that will move the needle for the

organization [40].

Figure 79: Organization's Traction Bullseye Framework. Source: own compilation

The choice of these six traction channels for the middle circle is based on

the target group that the organizations need to reach in order to establish a

relationship of trust with the potential customers/donors. They are meanly

focused on exploiting Internet-related capabilities (Search Engine

Marketing, Content Marketing, Targeting Blogs) and making use of

traditional distribution channels that have proved fruitful for other non-profit

organizations for many years (Business Development, Affiliate Programs,

and Speaking Engagements).

Finally, for the inner circle, Business Development has been chosen as the

main traction channel. It is the process of creating strategic relationships

that can benefit both the startup and the partner, and it has already been

reflected on the business model canvas as one of the key relationships that

the NGO has to establish with the other NGOs it is partnering with or

benefiting. Speaking Engagements and Targeting Blogs are the two other

28

chosen channels to comprise the inner circle because they are frequented

by most of the target audience and that is where the NGO can engage them

the most (Forums, Congresses, Conferences, Blogs, Reddit, etc.).

29

4. Practical Development

In order to examine the technical challenges and the practical viability of using satellite

communications technologies during a humanitarian response mission, this chapter

covers the key activities that the NGO would need to cover during a hypothetical disaster

response mission based on a real catastrophe that took place in 2019 in Beria,

Mozambique.

4.1. Scenario

On the night between 14th and 15th March 2019, Cyclone Idai hit Mozambique’s

coastal region bringing strong winds and heavy rains to the provinces of

Zambezia, Sofala, Manica, and Tete leaving over 1,000 deaths and more than

1,523 injured people [41][42]. The number of internally displaced people (IDPs)

reached nearly 146,000. For over a month many areas remained without

electricity and fully operational mobile networks. Beira City (Sofala Province)

suffered extensive damage with almost 80 percent of the economic

infrastructure destroyed. Across the whole country, more than 711,000 hectares

of crops resulted damaged [43][44][45]. The UN estimated that a total of 1.85

million people was in need of humanitarian support.

Only one month after Idai, on 25 April, another powerful cyclone called Kenneth

stroke again the Mozambican coast around the city of Pemba, 1,000km north

of Beira [46]. While the impact was less devastating than Idai, strong winds of

up to 200 km/h and torrential rains caused severe damages in different areas

around Pemba (over 35,000 houses partially or totally destroyed and 14 health

facilities impacted). At least 38 confirmed deaths and over 20,000 displaced

people.

Figure 8: Map plotting the track and the intensity of the storm, according to the Saffir–Simpson scale. Source: Created by Meow using WikiProject Tropical cyclones/Tracks. The background image is from

NASA. Tracking data is from JTWC and MFR

30

Figure 9: Map plotting the track and the intensity of the storm, according to the Saffir–Simpson scale. Source: Created by Meow using WikiProject Tropical cyclones/Tracks. The background image is from

NASA. Tracking data is from JTWC and MFR

4.2. Mission needs and requirements

The humanitarian situation was considerable, the affected areas very extensive,

and the number of victims upon arrival was expected to be very high. The initial

consequences that needed to be addressed, related to Idai Cyclone, quickly

escalated to a second cyclone and the following floods’ destruction.

Geography made the affected areas very difficult to access, and the

demographic distribution spread over such a zone of intervention made the

prioritization of needs very difficult to be managed: most of the people affected

were living in Beira, the main city, but higher mortality rates affected less

populated areas around Beira.

The main affected area, Beira, was only accessible by air. From Beira, the

organization's operations would have expanded to other affected areas, where

tents would have been deployed to assist both the population and the

humanitarian coordination. The teams would have then crossed the provinces

of Sofala and Manica. One team operating around the community of Buzi

(Sofala province) and another one around the city of Mafambisse (50km inland

following the Pungwe river).

Isolated communities like Macomia and the island of Ibo, 200km north of Pemba

would have only been accessible thanks to the local contacts and partnerships

created with other NGOs displaced to Mozambique.

31

Figure 10: Location of Beira in Mozambique. Source: Wikipedia

Due to the lack of electricity and telecommunication infrastructure, the

humanitarian response was strongly hampered as many areas have not been

assessed to identify the humanitarian needs. In order to increase the response

efficiency, telecommunications had to be restored, permanently or temporarily,

to be able to facilitate the delivery of supplies and aid.

Apart from the main operations center deployed in Beira, communications tents

in Mafambisse and Buzi, and humanitarian ambulant teams would have also

been organized to effectively assist as many people as possible as the

humanitarian response entered its recovery phase.

4.3. Commercial solutions and supplier’s analysis

As the business model canvas’ key activities details, along with the previous

demographic and situation pre-study, the organization needs to analyze all the

commercial solutions and manufacturers that best fits each mission in terms of

cost reduction, ease for transportation, or inter interoperability. This subchapter

explains in detail how these analyses would have been carried out.

For the Beira mission, the chosen Satellite Network Operator (SNO) would have

been Inmarsat (see Appendix A.1.3 for more details on the agents involved in

the provision of a satellite communications service). Inmarsat was set up in

1979 by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to develop a satellite

communications network for protecting lives at sea [28]. Nowadays, Inmarsat

helps companies and organizations that need to establish a communication link

where terrestrial telecommunications networks are unreliable or simply lack

enough coverage with its L-band Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) satellite

network (Appendix A.1.3 lists the diverse satellite classifications and its

individual benefits).

The solutions and services offered by Inmarsat group into four different

categories: Aviation, Maritime, Enterprise, and Government (Emergency

32

response included). Regarding humanitarian disaster response, Inmarsat

delivers reliable, inter-operable satellite communications to meet the needs of

first responders to command, control, and coordinate operational personnel in

the field, whether terrestrial networks are available or not [47].

They offer four different broadband services, each of them specifically designed

for land, sea, or air requirements regarding voice communications, data rates,

security, and reliability. Before deploying the Beira mission, BGAN [48] and

GlobalExpress [49] solutions would have been compared as they are the inland

perfect solutions that the SNO offers:

• BGAN

o Global Coverage

o ‘On-the-move’ and ‘on-the-pause’ mobile communications.

o Data, voice, and video capabilities (800 ms latency)

o Massive volumes of data

o Flexible and portable

o Ease of use

o Low hardware costs

o CAPEX-oriented airtime packages based on typical usage

o Real-time visibility of operations

• GlobalExpress

o Security and reliability end-to-end communications.

o Government-oriented

o Higher data rates

o Higher costs

o Fewer equipment manufacturers

Among these two solutions, BGAN would have been the chosen technology for

the mission because it turns out to be the easiest technology to be used by

novel users (“Plug-and-Play”), and because its interoperability makes it possible

for common laptops and mobile phones to connect to the tents’ Wi-Fi network,

therefore reducing costs and facilitating its use by other NGOs. Although being

the chosen technology, BGAN also has some slight drawbacks such as its cost

(about $4 to $6 per Megabyte transferred), its terminals cost (from $1,600 to

$10,000 or more), and the fact that BGAN terminals need to be manually

pointed.

Figure 11: The BGAN coverage map. Source: groundcontrol.com

33

Inmarsat offers an innovative BGAN coverage map made of 4 GEO satellites

(normally 3 satellites are enough for worldwide coverage). The Inmarsat I-4

MEAS (Middle East and ASia) is the 4th (and newest) is its fourth satellite in the

constellation, it was operational on the BGAN network on July 12, 2016, and its

primary objective is to provide more capacity to users in these regions.

Besides choosing the Satellite Network Operator (SNO) and the appropriate

technology to be used, the organization needs to estimate the type and number

of terminals to be deployed, and the suitable manufacturer on the market. The

key resources to be considered are:

• BGAN Terminals (the receivers): BGAN terminals provide both high-

speed Internet and voice which is a very good option if you need to

connect a laptop, tablet, smartphone, or any other wireless device.

Although BGAN is a solution owned by Inmarsat, Inmarsat allows

manufacturers to create BGAN terminals and the result is that the

market is very competitive:

Explorer 510

Explorer 710

Hughes 9202M

Hughes 9211

Hughes 9502

9502 One-Piece

MCD-4800

Price $2,145 $5,249 $2,819 $4,198 $999 $1,499 $12,995

Specifications

Explorer 510

Explorer 710

Hughes 9202M

Hughes 9211

Hughes 9502

Hughes 9502 1P

MCD-4800

Internet Speeds Standard BGAN Service

464 Kbps Down 448 Kbps Up







Class Type

Class 2 Class 1-Advanced

Class 2 Class 1 Class 2

Class 2

Class 2

Wi-Fi (802.11)

Wireless b/g/n

Wireless b/g

Wireless b/g/n

Wireless b/g/n

No No Wireless b

Standard Phone

Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes

SMS Texting

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

FAX (Group 3)

No Yes Yes Yes No No Yes

Battery Life

36 hours 36 hours 36 hours 36 hours

External Powered

External Powered

Up to 6 hours

ISDN unknown

64Kbps via RJ-45

No No No No 64Kbps RJ-45

Bluetooth No No No No No No No

Voice Mail

Yes Yes Yes Yes n/a n/a Yes

Table 1: BGAN Terminal Comparison chart [50]

https://www.groundcontrol.com/bgan/Explorer_510_BGAN_Brochure.pdf




https://www.groundcontrol.com/bgan/Hughes_9202M_Brochure.pdf



https://www.groundcontrol.com/bgan/Hughes_9211_BGAN_Terminal_Brochure.pdf

https://www.groundcontrol.com/bgan/Hughes_9211_BGAN_Terminal_Brochure.pdf

https://www.groundcontrol.com/bgan/Hughes_9502_BGAN_M2M.pdf




https://www.groundcontrol.com/bgan/Hughes_9502_One-Piece_Brochure.pdf




https://www.groundcontrol.com/MCD-4800_BGAN_Terminal.htm



https://www.groundcontrol.com/BGAN_Class_Type.htm














34

• Service Plan: The same market freedom encountered with the BGAN

terminals manufacturers happens with Service Providers (SPs). There

is a vast assortment of SPs specialized in BGAN equipment and service

for offering a wide variety of BGAN plans to fit specific usage

requirements (monthly plans, prepaid Megabytes packages that may be

used during several weeks, unlimited plans, etc. ).

• Telephones: Each terminal carries a sim card that is assigned with two

unique telephone numbers, one for phone calling, and the other for a fax

line. Any standard corded or cordless phone may connect to a BGAN

terminal, but it is advisable to use a standard corded phone (analog

phone) because it only requires a couple of batteries to operate, which

is highly beneficial for power reduction in remote locations and post-

catastrophes situations where the electricity infrastructure may have

been damaged. Depending on the missions, the team may also need to

deploy satellite phones for humanitarian ambulant teams.

• Laptops: In the same way as what happens with telephones, BGAN

terminals acts as a Wi-Fi hotspot that is available for any conventional

laptop, tablet, or smartphone to connect to. The data rate available for

high-speed connection depends on the class (1, 2, or 3) of the chosen

terminal, and they can usually host more than 11 (The Cobham Explorer

510 capacity) users at the same time connected to the Wi-Fi network

[51].

• Others: Databases, power supplies, solar panels, tents, desks, …

4.4. Deployment and data measurement

As stated in the previous subchapters, the mission deployment would have

comprised three fixed satellite communications tents and three ambulant teams

where the organization’s volunteers and employees would have been patrolling

the area equipped with satellite phones vehicular BGAN terminals:

35

Figure 12: Humanitarian operations map. Source: Own compilation

Starting at Beira, in the first weeks, the organization would have conducted

Humanitarian Calling Operations (HCO) in its telecommunications operations

center as well as in schools reconverted as temporary shelters in and around

the city of Beira. Equipped with satphones, the ambulant teams would have

provided them with free calls to locate and contact their relatives and close ones,

most of them for the first time since the disaster.

As the water receded in the most flooded areas, the organization teams would

have gone forward to cover 2 extremely affected areas: the community of Buzi

(province of Sofala) and the city of Mafambisse (50km inland following the

Pungwe river), both of them only accessible by air due to the strategic

partnerships with other deployed humanitarian NGOs.

All the organization’s deployed teams would have also been supporting

humanitarian operations (UNDAC and OCHA coordination labors, food, and

water distribution, field hospitals, cholera treatment, repair works, etc.) among

the close to one hundred organizations that covered the Idai and Kenneth

disaster.

Taking these facts into consideration, the resources for each satellite access

network station that the organization would have chosen are the following:

• Beira Telecoms Center

o 6 x Hughes 9202M BGAN Terminal [53]

▪ Reliable, lightweight, economical class 2 terminal, IP

broadband speeds up to 464 kbps, one ethernet

36

connection, supports circuit-switched voice and fax calls

via a two-line RJ11 plug, up to 36h battery live.

▪ Thought for fixed stations.

▪ 2,819 $

o 20 x IsatPhone 2 (satellite phone) [55]

▪ Direct and worldwide connection with GEO Satellites

(fewer dropped calls), excellent call quality (2.4 kbps), up

to 160h battery live, low calling rates (0.78$ per minute),

multilanguage,

▪ 800$

o 10 x AT&T 688 [56]

▪ Conventional corded telephone, no AC needed.

▪ 13$

o 10 x Acer Chromebook 315

▪ Chrome OS, AMD A4-9120C Dual-core (2 núcleos) 1,60

GHz, 4 GB, DDR4 SDRAM, 32 GB Memoria flash.

▪ 330€

• Beira humanitarian ambulant teams

o 1 x Hughes 9450TW 19.5" (BGAN terminal) [54]

▪ Includes the 9450 transceiver and the larger C10 - 19.5"

diameter antenna that offers multi-band Wi-Fi

connectivity up to 492 kbps speeds and 30 meters range,

4 ethernet connections, and circuit-switched voice and

fax calls via a two-line RJ11 plug.

▪ Thought for vehicular stations.

▪ 8,795 $





multilanguage.

▪ 800$ each.

o 2 x AT&T 688 [56]


▪ 13$ each.




▪ 330€ each.

• Buzi tent






▪ Thought for fixed stations.

▪ 2,819 $




37


multilanguage.

▪ 800$ each.

o 3 x AT&T 688 [56]


▪ 13$ each.




▪ 330€ each.

• Mafambisse tent






▪ Though for fixed stations.

▪ 2,819 $





multilanguage.

▪ 800$ each.

o 3 x AT&T 688 [56]


▪ 13$ each.




▪ 330€ each.

• Macomia ambulant team








▪ 8,795 $





multilanguage.

▪ 800$ each.

o 2 x AT&T 688 [56]


▪ 13$ each.


38



▪ 330€ each.

• Ilha Ibo ambulant team








▪ 8,795 $





multilanguage.

▪ 800$ each.

o 2 x AT&T 688 [56]


▪ 13$ each.




▪ 330€ each.

4.5. Costs

The following price list comprises the costs the NGO would have needed to

incur to cover the 2019 Mozambican disaster (see chapter 3.1 for more details

on the Business Model Canvas’ Expenses):

BGAN equipment 113.446 €

The total sum is a result of adding the expected expenditures in which the

organization would have incurred in order to have the key resources needed for

deploying the satellite access networks (detailed in chapter 4.4.2). For each

communications post, the total amount is as follows:

• Beira Telecoms Center: 36.230 €

• Beira humanitarian ambulant teams (two): 26.700€

• Buzi’s satellite station: 11.000 €

• Mafambisse’s satellite station: 11.000 €

• Macomia ambulant team: 14.285 €

• Ilha Ibo ambulant team: 14.285 €

This practical development doesn’t take into consideration potential

partnerships with manufacturers, so all are market prices.

39

Other equipment, materials, and supplies 25,000 €

Estimated costs for other equipment needed for the BGAN terminals to operate

such as several databases for each fixed station, alternative power supplies for

the BGAN terminals, portable solar panels, etc. It has also been considered

other basic expenditures such as food, water, clothing, tents, or desks.

BGAN Service Plan (30 days) 1,330 €

The organization would have contracted Ground Control unlimited BGAN

service plan specially oriented for all AID and NGO workers, which has global

coverage and a 90 days validation for a one-time cost of $4.000. [58]

Employees’ salaries (30 days) 25,200 €

The total human workforce needed to manage all the resources would have

been estimated to be around 28 people. The total amount of expenses

regarding employees’ salaries bears in mind that around 30% of the human

resources might have been volunteering (10 people approx.), and that each

employee’s monthly salary would have been around $1.700.

Deployment costs 18,800 €

The accumulated expenses of transporting by plane all the organization’s key

resources (both human and physical) to the mission destination. Again, this

practical study does not contemplate potential partnerships with airlines or

NGOs, which would have cheapened costs.

TOTAL 183,776 €

It is important to highlight that this does not mean that the mission would have

cost almost 200k€ because the simulation is not considering the potential

strategic partnerships that the NGO could have created with SNOs, SPs, and

manufacturers upon arrival or the hypothetical scenario in which the NGO “sells”

its service and capabilities to other NGOs. Furthermore, this study only

contemplates the organization’s expenditure streams and not the potential

incomes that shall reduce the cost’s impact such as the grants that the NGO

might receive, or the selfless donations,

40

5. Conclusions

This master’s thesis’ main objective was to present a telecommunications-related non-

profit startup business idea and to prove its feasibility.

The proposed NGO is specialized in dimensioning and deploying Satellite Access

Networks for humanitarian disaster response missions in which people may be suffering

from temporary uncommunication. Its definition falls back on The Business Model

Canvas for NGOs introduced by Judith Sanderse in 2014 [21] as the cornerstone for

developing the new NGO business model and, thanks to its nine building blocks, it

describes the NGO’s value propositions, ultimate beneficiaries, infrastructure, and

finances.

The key to identifying potential needs and missions, coordinating joint humanitarian

responses, and cost-reducing lies in establishing strategic partnerships with potential

competitors and suppliers. Once the business structure is depicted, the thesis uses a

perceptual map to position the NGO within the market and to highlight the presence of

those scarce potential competitors that were first thought to be non-existent, and with

whom the NGO will need to reach an agreement.

The most suitable strategy for the organization’s characteristics and the markets in order

to impact as many people as possible and in the best possible way is enabled with the

help of several frameworks like SWOT, the Porter’s Five Forces, or the Traction Bullseye.

They go even further and evidence that there is no way for the business idea to succeed

and be feasible without securing those NGO’s key partnerships.

Moreover, the final chapter demonstrates the practical implementation that the business

idea has. It describes how the NGO would have performed on a hypothetical disaster

response mission based on a real catastrophe that took place in 2019 in Beria,

Mozambique, and how necessary it would actually have been. The NGO’s structural

strength alongside the maturity of satellite technologies proves that such a non-profit

non-governmental organization can smoothly operate in the current market and that it

can find its own market niche as long as strategic partnerships are taken good care of.

The proposed NGO can perfectly fit in the existing framework, where the number of

critical situations in need of this kind of humanitarian response has been constantly

increasing over the last decades, and where the scarce existing competitors actually turn

out to be key partners for the business plan to succeed.

41

A. Appendixes

A.1 Environment Analysis

In order to analyze the internal and external environment of the organization, its

study is divided into three domains to facilitate its understanding:

• Beginning by analyzing the macroeconomic environment in which the

NGO operates. It allows understanding the economic situation of the

country where the organization is located and, therefore, the solidity of

the financing channels that the organization will have;

• Next, a juridical-legal analysis that explains under which decrees and

jurisdictions the organization should be founded;

• And, finally, a technological analysis where the technologies exploited by

the NGO in potential projects are developed. It also helps to analyze

whether their maturity or the existence of substitute technologies may be

of any impact on the organization itself.

A.1.1 Economic analysis

The meaning of carrying out an economic analysis is to understand the

economic trend of the environment in which the organization operates, to

assimilate the behaviors of the different economic agents that have a direct

impact on it, such as its investors or potential partners.

As the organization is yet to be launched, the thesis assumes that the

organization coordinates its activity from Barcelona, Spain. During this

chapter, the four main macroeconomic indicators in Spain affecting the

NGO are analyzed, comparing them with those of other countries in order

to obtain a complete perspective of the impact of the different social and

political phenomena.

• Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

The first factor to be analyzed, GDP, reflects the economic growth of a

nation or a region through the value of its production of goods and services.

Economic growth is a cyclical process when goods that are produced by

the companies of a country are consumed by its citizens; it impacts on

higher incomes and better profits for companies, which can later be

invested in hiring staff (thus affecting the consumer again).

The main financing channels that an NGO has can be grouped into the

public initiative and private initiative. In the case of public funds, the

organization can receive subsidies from the different administrations —

local, regional, state, or international— which can amount to up to 60% of

the organization's funding streams. If you think about private financing, it

includes both donations from companies and entities aware of their social

impact, as well as donations from individuals or Other People’s Money

42

(OPM) who wish to support the work of the NGO through one-off or

recurring donations. Other examples of private financing channels can be

crowdfunding, growfunding, collaborations with brands that help lower the

cost of the services provided, patronage, selling merchandising, renting /

leasing of terminals or the bandwidth contracted to other organizations, etc.

Growth in GDP is reflected in higher consumption and greater purchasing

power of the population and, by extension, a greater willingness of citizens

and administrations to invest in NGOs.

As shown below by the data extracted from the National Institute of

Statistics on the quarterly and annual variation of GDP in Spain, the

constant growth that Spain has been enjoying during the last three years

gives way to a phase of technical recession after registering in the second

quarter in 2020 the largest quarterly drop in its historical series, which

began in 1970.

TERM VALUE (%)

2020T2 -17,7921

2020T1 -5,2495

2019T4 0,4148

2019T3 0,3538

2019T2 0,3781

2019T1 0,5221

2018T4 0,5542

2018T3 0,6105

2018T2 0,5203

2018T1 0,5496

2017T4 0,6258

2017T3 0,5773

2017T2 1,0737

2017T1 0,7940

Table 2: Quarterly variation of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at market prices in Spain. Source: Spanish National Institute of Statistics (INE)

43

Figure 13: Quarterly variation of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at market prices in Spain. Source: Spanish National Institute of Statistics (INE)

TERM VALUE (%)

2020T2 -21,5078

2020T1 -4,1589

2019T4 1,6791

2019T3 1,8203

2019T2 2,0809

2019T1 2,2255

2018T4 2,2534

2018T3 2,3262

2018T2 2,2924

2018T1 2,8555

2017T4 3,1055

2017T3 2,9402

2017T2 3,2571

2017T1 2,5888

Table 3: Annual variation of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at market prices in Spain. Source: Spanish National Institute of Statistics (INE)

44

Figure 14: Annual variation of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at market prices in Spain. Source: Spanish National Institute of Statistics (INE)

It should be noted that the conditions that have led to this technical

recession are quite extraordinary, going through partial confinement of the

population for a long period, among other things. It should not be taken as

an economic trend that could affect the financial structure of the company

in the medium and long term.

• Debt and Deficit

The public debt and the deficit are indicators that measure a nation’s

financial health concerning abroad accounts.

Public debt is the set of debts or payment commitments that the public

sector (including the central State, the Autonomous Communities, the City

Councils and other local entities, and the Social Security) has with the

private sector, whether they are individuals, companies, or institutions,

national or foreign.

TERM

Total Debt (M.€)

Debt (%GDP)

Per Cápita Debt

July 2020 1.290.799 - -

June 2020 1.290.657 110,05% 27.253€

May 2020 1.258.226 101,63% 26.576€

April 2020 1.235.102 99,76% 26.087€

March 2020 1.224.569 98,91% 25.864€

February 2020 1.201.768 96,55% 25.391€

January 2020 1.195.878 96,07% 25.267€

December 2019 1.188.859 95,51% 25.119€

November 2019

1.187.984 96,22% 25.222€

October 2019 1.190.977 96,46% 25.286€

September 2019

1.203.821 97,50% 25.559€

Agosto 2019 1.196.150 97,64% 25.396€

Julio 2019 1.193.769 97,45% 25.345€

Table 4: Evolution of debt from July 2019 to July 2020 in Spain. Source: Expansión newspaper, https://datosmacro.expansion.com/

45

During the second quarter of 2020, in Spain, public debt grew more than

66,000 M.€, exceeding for the first time the 100% of GDP border.

Comparing the data on public debt in Spain at the end of 2019, against

other countries of the European Union, it can be seen that the Spanish

situation was not an isolated phenomenon in the Union, but rather several

countries, and especially in southern Europe, suffer from a similar situation.

Country Total Debt

(M.€) Debt

(%GDP) Per Cápita

Debt

Spain 1.188.859 95,50% 25.119€

Germany 2.053.033 59,80% 24.686€

United Kingdom 2.223.544 85,40% 33.175€

France 2.380.106 98,10% 35.472€

Italy 2.409.841 134,80% 40.001€

Portugal 249.980 117,70% 24.280€

Table 5: Public Debt comparison in Europe as of December 2019. Source: Expansión newspaper, https://datosmacro.expansion.com/

On the other hand, the deficit is the difference between the operations of

public income and expenditure during the budget year. We speak of a deficit

when the budget balance is negative, while if the balance is positive, the

country is in surplus.

The public deficit appears because, for various reasons, the State's income

(mostly taxes) are insufficient to cover all spending needs (education,

health, pensions, unemployment benefits ...).

Figure 15: Public deficit comparison by country as of December 2019. Source: Expansión newspaper, https://datosmacro.expansion.com/

https://datosmacro.expansion.com/deuda/espana

46

Country Deficit (M.€)

Deficit (%GDP)

Spain -35.637 -2,86%

Germany 49.788 1,40%

United Kingdom

-52.483 -2,10%

France -72.811 -3,00%

Italy -29.301 -1,60%

Portugal 404 0,20%

Table 6: Public deficit comparison by country as of December 2019. Source: Expansión newspaper, https://datosmacro.expansion.com/v

Analyzing both the debt and the public deficit, the situation in Spain is not

really an isolated case within the European Union, and they do not directly

affect the decision to establish the fiscal headquarters in Spain, nor the

financial plan of the organization.

• Unemployment rate

The last factor to be analyzed is the unemployment rate and it informs about

the situation of the labor market in a specific region. It is the quotient of the

total unemployed over the active population (population of age, conditions,

and willingness to work), and is given in percentage values.

Between the two possible income streams that the organization has (the

public and private initiative), private financing generally represents a

minimum of 30% of the organization's financing incomes, and groups

together both donations from companies and entities aware of their social

impact, as well as donations from individuals or Other People’s Money

(OPM).

TERM Unemployment

2020T2 15,33%

2020T1 14,41%

2019T4 13,78%

2019T3 13,92%

2019T2 14,02%

2019T1 14,70%

2018T4 14,45%

2018T3 14,55%

2018T2 15,28%

2018T1 16,74%

2017T4 16,55%

2017T3 16,38%

2017T2 17,22%

2017T1 18,75% Table 7: The unemployment rate in Spain. An evolution from 2017 to 2020. Source: National Institute

of Statistics

https://datosmacro.expansion.com/deuda/espana

47

Country / Region

Unemployment

Spain 15,8%

Italy 9,7%

Sweden 9,4%

Croatia 8,6%

France 8,2%

Portugal 8,1%

Ireland 5%

Eurozone 7,3%

Table 8: The unemployment rate in July 2020 in different countries of the Euro Zone. Source: Expansión newspaper, https://datosmacro.expansion.com

Growth in the unemployment rate, and the consequent drop in the level of

income of potential private investors, entail a series of effects that could

have an adverse impact on the organization, and that go beyond the

possible lack of income, such as a generalized depression, increased social

differences, increased distrust, xenophobia ...

The strategy to follow is to try to ensure that private funds do not represent

a critical share of the organization’s sources of income so that the

organization can continue operating without being affected by fluctuations

in the macroeconomic indicators.

A.1.2 Juridical-Legal analysis

Foundations are non-profit non-governmental organizations that, by the will

of their creators, have their assets permanently affected to carry out general

interest purposes, that is, they have a social purpose. It is important that,

when setting up and registering an organization, the fiscal policies and

other applicable legislation are considered, according to the type of

corporate name chosen.

In this specific case, Law 50/2002 on foundations of December 26,

develops the right of foundation recognized in article 34 of the Spanish

Constitution and establishes the rules of the legal regime of foundations.

Once an ideology has been defined (the final reason, what tasks are carried

out and how, etc.) for the organization and, in compliance with the

Foundations Law cited above, the legal steps to create an NGO in Spain

are the following:

1. Statutes elaboration

48

What will the NGO be called, where will the fiscal headquarters be located,

what will be the scope of action (local, state, or international), what is the

purpose of the NGO, what activities are carried out, who are the founding

members, what will they be the financing channels, what system is

established for decision-making, ...

2. Determining the legal form of the NGO

It will have a direct impact on tax and accounting obligations, or on Social

Security affiliation. The usual legal forms of non-profit organizations in

Spain are the foundation, the association, the mutuality, and the

cooperative. And, of these four types, the most widespread are the first two.

3. Determining the Corporate name

The competent Registry of Foundations issues a document known as the

negative certification of the denomination that certifies that the name to be

given to the new foundation does not coincide with that of another

previously registered foundation.

4. Disposition of a minimum equity

The Law of Foundations considers an essential requirement for the

foundation, to have a minimum of € 30,000 (which may consist of goods or

rights) to be able to carry out its activity.

5. Drafting of the founding act

It is the formal administrative act of foundation and includes the data of the

founding partners, their positions, or the acceptance of the statutes by

them, among other points.

6. CIF Application

Providing an erasure of the statutes and the negative certification of

denomination, the Finance Administration provides a provisional CIF.

7. Registration in the Registry of Foundations

To request the registration of the foundation in the competent Registry of

Foundations, the deed of incorporation, the liquidation of the Tax on

Patrimonial Transmissions and Documented Legal Acts (corresponding to

the deed of incorporation) and a photocopy of the CIF must be provided.

The process of constitution of a foundation ends when certification is

received from the Protectorate and the Registry of Foundations indicating

that it has been classified and registered.

49

A.1.3 Technological Analysis

Since the first artificial satellite (Sputnik-1) dedicated to sending

atmospheric and climatic data, broadcasting in the 20 and 40 MHz bands,

was put into orbit in 1957, passing through the first satellites that supported

bidirectional voice circuits in the middle of the decade of the 60, or the first

satellite system LEO (Low Earth Orbit) of telephone communications at the

end of the 90; many have been the advances that have occurred in satellite

communications systems to this day.

The first operational satellites whose main function was the provision of

communications systems for military, governmental, or scientific purposes;

were adapted to exploit the commercial potential of this technology. Thus,

in 1964 the INTELSAT (International Telecommunications Satellite

Organization) consortium was formed, which would be responsible for

launching the first satellites (Intelsat I, II, and III) capable of offering more

than 240 voice circuits or a bidirectional television channel for the purpose

of commercial.

As technology advanced and production costs became cheaper, more

companies and associations began to build satellites to meet the needs of

different states, firms, navigation companies, and other organizations with

large needs for the volume of communications traffic.

• Types of Satellites

The most common way of classifying satellites is according to the altitude

of the orbital plane concerning the earth's surface, although they can also

be distinguished according to the type of orbit they draw, or the earth plane

on which they draw that orbit:

o According to the type of Orbit,

▪ Circular satellites with the center of the orbit at the center of the

Earth

▪ Elliptical satellites with one of their foci in the center of the earth

o According to the plane of the Earth in which they orbit,

▪ Equatorial satellites

▪ Polar satellites whose orbit passes through both poles

▪ Other types of orbits o According to the altitude of the orbital plane with respect to the earth's

surface, ▪ Low Earth Orbit (LEO)

• Orbits below 1,200km altitude

• Orbital periods of 1.5-2 hours

• Its coverage area has a diameter of 8,000km

• Approx. 40 satellites for full coverage

• Delays under 20ms

• Susceptible to the Doppler effect and atmospheric

conditions

50

▪ Medium Earth Orbit (MEO)

• Orbit at a distance from the earth's surface of between

5,000 and 12,000 km

• 6-hour orbital period

• Approx. 10-15 satellites required for full coverage

• Delays under 50ms

▪ Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO).

• Located approximately 36,000 km from the earth's surface

• They orbit at the same angular speed as the Earth, so they

appear static

• They cover 42.2% of the earth's surface, so a network with

3 GEO satellites a priori would cover the entire Earth.

• Delays of 0.25s (very high)

• Structure of a satellite communications system

A basic satellite communications system is usually made up of three

segments:

The Satellite

The central point of the network, a repeater station that amplifies, changes

the band and retransmits the received radio signal, to establish connections

between ground stations that are under its coverage area. The main

components of the satellite are:

▪ Communication Payload, composed of the transponders,

responsible for forming communication channels between the

receiving antenna and the transmitter; and the antenna

subsystem, responsible for capturing and emitting the radio signal.

Usually, transponders operate under the bent pipe principle, which

consists of emitting to Earth the same signal that it has received

but amplified and changing the frequency of the uplink channel to

that of the downlink. On the other hand, the most modern and

complex satellites use on-board processing, to be able to

demodulate and decode the received signal and recode and

modulate it before transmitting it back to Earth.

Year Satellite # of

Transponders Electrical

Power Launch mass

Life expectancy

51

1985 EUTELSAT I 9 1.0kW 1.2

tons 7 years

1996 HOT BIRD 2 20 5.6kW 2.9

tons 12 years

2001 ATLANTIC BIRD 2

26 6.5kW 2.9

tons 15 years

2006 HOT BIRD 8 64 13kW 4.9

tons 15 years

2009 W7 70 16kW 5.6

tons > 15 years

Table 9: Technology Progress from 2985 to 2009 Fuente: Chapter 5 - Satellite Telecommunication Systems, Telecommunication Systems (TSYS) subject, MET, UPC

▪ Power Supply

▪ Attitude and Orbit Control, stabilization of the correct orientation,

altitude, and orbit is done thanks to the control thrusters. The

useful life of a satellite is directly proportional to the amount of fuel

available to perform these stabilizing operations.

▪ Telemetry, Telecommand, and Ranging

The Satellite Access Network

It includes satellite hubs and satellite communications terminals used by

end-users, known as gateways. These are interconnected through one or

more radio channels offered by the satellite.

The Satellite Core Network

It is the backbone that supports the network and is made up of switches

and routers based on IP / MPLS (Multi-Protocol Label Switching) and

Ethernet technologies. The core network interconnects several gateways

with operators, entities, and IPSs (Internet Service Providers).

Figure 16: Basic Satellite Communication System Architecture Fuente: Chapter 5 - Satellite Telecommunication Systems, Telecommunication Systems (TSYS) subject, MET, UPC

• Agents involved in the provision of a satellite communications service:

52

o Satellite Operator (SO), responsible for the launch, maintenance, and

management of satellites. (e.g. INMARSAT, SpaceX, Arianespace,

Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Proton)

o Satellite Network Operator (SNO), owner and responsible for the launch,

maintenance, and management of the satellite hubs and the core of the

communications network (e.g. Gilat Satellite Networks)

o Service Provider (SP), responsible for the contracted communication

service. Several types of satellite communication services can be

distinguished:

▪ Traditional Fixed Satellite Service (FSS): Radio communication

service between ground stations located in specific positions or

areas. E.g. Intelsat, SES, Hispasat.

▪ Mobile Satellite Service (MSS): Radiocommunication service

between mobile land stations, between satellite stations, or

between a mobile land station and a satellite station. E.g. are

Inmarsat, Iridium, Globalstar, Mobile Satellite Ventures.

▪ Broadcasting Satellite Service (BSS): Radiocommunication

service by which a space station transmits or retransmits a signal

addressed to the general public. E.g. SES-ASTRA, Echostar,

Directv) and provision of these services on leased FSS capacity.

o Manufacturers of satellites and terrestrial terminals (e.g. Boeing, Loral,

Lockheed Martin, Thales, Alcatel, Astrium)

• Advantages of satellite communication systems over conventional terrestrial

systems (radio, 3G, 4G, 5G, …)

• Ubiquitous coverage: A single satellite system can cover any potential

user within a continent, especially in areas with low demographic

density.

• Bandwidth flexibility: Broadband, Narrowband, symmetrical,

asymmetric channels, ...

• Deployment: Quick to deploy and once deployed it's easy for new users

to join regardless of distance.

• Connectivity: Broadcasting, Multipoint-to-multipoint, multicasting, ...

• Disaster Recovery: an alternative to emergencies and disasters to

terrestrial networks such as fiber optics, for example.

• Reliability: It is the most reliable Communications System compared to

other technologies.

• Cost: Independent of the distance of the users.

53

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