The satellite industry’s big players are clearly feeling the heat from SpaceX’s Starlink, and they want the world to know they’re still in the game and reassure investors that Starlink isn’t the only player winning contracts.

Adel Al-Saleh of SES Satellites kicks things off with a direct attempt to downplay SpaceX Starlink’s perceived dominance. He argues that every time Starlink wins a contract, the media amplifies it while ignoring the successes of other satellite operators. The unspoken reality? Starlink’s brand power and relentless innovation are outshining legacy players, forcing them into PR damage control.

He also points to the cruise industry, where Starlink is dominant, but SES manages to “coexist” with them. The keyword here is “coexist”, not compete, not outperform, just survive in the same market. That’s not the flex he thinks it is.

David Wajsgras of Intelsat tries to inject optimism by teasing future in-flight connectivity (IFC) deals. He also touts momentum in agriculture and border security, industries not traditionally associated with cutting-edge satellite innovation and border security isn’t exactly a high-margin, volume-driven market like consumer broadband. It’s more about securing niche government contracts.

Paul Gaske of Hughes takes a different approach by avoiding the term “multi-orbit” and instead pushing “multi-transport.” Hughes wants to distinguish itself from competitors pushing mixed GEO and LEO satellite services by emphasizing terrestrial integration while avoiding direct competition with Starlink, smart.

Telesat’s Dan Goldberg is bullish on the future of its Lightspeed constellation, but the first launch is “targeted” for late 2026, meaning it’s still in the planning phase. And while Goldberg is excited about market demand, if Telesat can’t get its user terminals below $1,000, it’ll struggle against Starlink, which has steadily driven its hardware costs down.

Eva Berneke of Eutelsat Group takes an indirect shot at satellite manufacturers, blaming them for prioritizing technical improvements over cost reductions. This is a fascinating insight into industry inefficiencies, she’s effectively saying that engineers are overengineering instead of making satellite tech affordable. “It’s not us, it’s them”

She’s calling for industrialized mass production, similar to what SpaceX has done with Starlink’s satellites. But the subtext is clear: Eutelsat OneWeb (and others) are struggling to keep up with SpaceX’s aggressive cost-cutting and rapid deployment strategy.

Mark Dankberg of Viasat pitches a different strategy, using high-powered GEO satellites to concentrate capacity where needed. His vision of a “single GEO satellite that is agnostic to the network” is interesting, but let’s remember: Starlink’s low-latency, high-speed network is already operational.

A pity Elon was not invited/attending the panel, would have been very interesting …