How 5G affects satellite industry

By Dr. Karl So, Doctorate of Business Administration

No doubt 5G is one of the hottest topics in 2020, regardless of those political actions in a different part of the world, the technology itself is going to change the world big time. According to multiple market research firms' reports, they are all pointed out that the 5G infrastructure will reach around US$60B, and the market around 5G will be US$600B in 2025. By that time, mobile connection services, IoT, and critical communications will boost and mobile experience with reduced latency, low cost-per-bit, and consistent with higher data speeds will be a norm.

Satellite, on the other hand, has been existed for decades and we have been using it for a while too, like GPS on phone, dishes to receive overseas TV channels, etc. Or though the cost of sending a satellite to orbit is lower than before, still around US$500M on average and spending around 5 years to build. And believe it or not, you also need some luck on placing the satellite to the orbit which affecting the lifetime (around 10 years). So, high fixed cost and limited time of use, satellite companies are trying very hard to make the most out of them by generating revenue to cover the cost of building, 10 years of running cost, plus the fund to build a new one and replace it.

At this point, you may still think 5G and satellites are very different, so how they are going to affect each other? The answer is the spectrum is very close between them, which is known as C Band. The C Band is an electromagnetic spectrum in the microwave range of frequencies ranging from 4.0GHz to 8.0GHz, which is widely used by satellite communications transmissions. 5G is stepping into this range at 3.4GHz to 4.2GHz. Simple logic, the higher frequency lead to higher cost. When 4GHz dish antenna is commonly used by homes, hotels, and even other public and private sectors for receiving, and the new 5G cell towers are using the 4GHz to connect millions of devices within the same area, 5G and satellite will be jamming their frequency together. Who will win? Very likely 5G because it is closer to the receivers.

So some infrastructures may actually be affected, and let's take one of the fastest-growing 5G countries as an example - South Korea. South Korea has been adopting 5G in Seoul and other cities since 2019, and they have a very strict radio frequency regulations applied. They have been restricted the use of new satellite dishes to receive in the Seoul area, to ensure it is not going to affect the 5G spectrum. This is going to affect the reception of TV channels at homes or hotels. For example in hotels, you got CNN, FOX, NHK, etc on TVs they are mainly received by one satellite dishes, now they may be affected by the 5G spectrum. Hotels may need to find another way to receive those TV channels in the near future. For home use, you may not able to get free TV channels via your dish antenna anymore or even required a license to use a receiving dish.

In Hong Kong, there are a few spectra already assigned to different carriers, the government still holding the ones which are close to satellite bands. Therefore, we won't run to problems between 5G and satellites, yet. Satellite companies and dishes antenna manufacturers are also producing 5G filters for their equipment too, that actually applied an extra cost of running the satellite communications.