Culture shift: debunking myths about commercial managed SATCOM for government customers

February 05, 2019 News

In a new contributed article for SpaceNews, Inmarsat Government’s Senior Vice President of Government Strategy and Policy, Rebecca Cowen-Hirsch, discusses how with the introduction of cost-effective wideband commercial communication satellites, the industry is rapidly transforming the technical and business models of legacy fixed services to offer SATCOM as a Service approaches pioneered by trusted mobile satellite operators. This evolution is taking place in order to meet increasing demand for high-bandwidth connectivity while on the move.

Cowen-Hirsch highlights the need for the government to evaluate COMSATCOM for its effects or the missions it supports, in order to achieve the aim of a completely integrated SATCOM architecture. Additionally, she emphasizes the importance of debunking residual myths about COMSATCOM in order to achieve the goal of a unified SATCOM architecture.

“Cultural impediments notwithstanding, agencies are well positioned to benefit from ongoing industry innovation. SATCOM as a Service is readily available for implementation now. Like their cell phones, government users should perceive of high-bandwidth connectivity as a given, not an aspiration. With this, they will spend less time attempting to figure out how to get quality SATCOM services, and more time focusing on the tasks at hand, with mission success being the ultimate measure,” Cowen-Hirsch wrote.

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