Speakers:
- Blanca Fernandez Cavalheiro, partner | TMT strategy & transformation, PwC Middle East – PWC (Chairperson)
- Mustafa Afifi, sales director ME – RIVADA SPACE NETWORKS
- Hasan Zainal, managing director – Visionaria Business Consultancy
- Peter Hall, vice president, Europe & Middle East – SES
- Abdulaziz Aljasmi, director – Space Business – E&
- Majid A. Alyazeedy, general manager – business development & strategic partnership – STC
- Hani El Arja, VP connectivity sales, MENA & Central Asia – Eutelsat
As connectivity demands continue to grow across the Middle East, carriers are adopting hybrid architectures that combine fibre, long terrestrial routes and non-terrestrial networks (NTNs) to extend coverage and strengthen resilience.
This panel makes a case for how low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites are becoming a critical layer for supporting mission-critical services and reaching remote or underserved areas. No longer viewed as a last resort, LEOs are being increasingly integrated as a native component of network infrastructure and are working to reshape network resilience across the Middle East.
Moderated by Blanca Fernandez Cavalheiro, partner for TMT strategy & transformation at PwC Middle East, this panel outlined how this hybrid approach is creating new opportunities – including enhanced resilience and expanded coverage.
From standalone to strategic integration
The evolution of satellite’s role in regional telecommunications has been dramatic, according to the panel. Peter Hall, vice president for Europe & Middle East at SES, highlighted the shifting dynamics during the discussion.
“This region has always been a big user of satellite for multiple reasons,” he said. “If you look at the geography and infrastructure deployment, satellite has been a big part of what’s happening in the Middle East and North Africa for many, many years. What’s exciting now is that it’s changing even faster.”
This change is partly driven by innovation in space technology itself.
“What Elon Musk is doing with Starlink – bringing down the cost of launches – is accelerating how technology is changing in space, and that’s creating opportunity for all of us,” Hall added. “It’s also happening at a time where geopolitics is coming more into play. We’re seeing government-backed initiatives for digitisation, transforming economies and digital inclusion in certain parts of the world.”
For established carriers in markets with extensive terrestrial coverage, the integration challenge looks different. According to Abdulaziz Aljasmi, director of space business at E&, the UAE is covering more than 98% of land areas, so new technologies are helping to change strategy.
“The use cases of satellites are now only for specific use cases: maritime, mobility and some outdoor missions outside coverage areas,” he noted. “We believe it is going to be a strategic decision on having satellite connectivity complementing the terrestrial network. And on top of it, as an additional layer of backup, security – not only for business, but also a full-fledged resilience solution for our consumers, for enterprise.”
Charting a ‘significant shift’ in network architecture
The mechanics of blending satellite and terrestrial networks present both technical and commercial challenges, the panel explored. According to Majid A. Alyazeedy, general manager of business development & strategic partnership at STC, integration should be approached with a fundamental shift in network management.
“From an MNO perspective, we always think satellite connectivity, specifically LEO, is a native part of our network – whether you call it an additional access layer or network of networks. LEO satellite connectivity is not separated from the telco or MNO network. It’s not a separate domain,” he said. “Here we can talk about satellite access that can be managed, authenticated and orchestrated through the same core, policies and security. This will enable the MNO to deliver consistent connectivity service with certain SLAs.”
The panel was eager to discuss that the technical complexity of managing multiple satellite orbits alongside terrestrial infrastructure cannot be understated. According to Hall, the industry is now moving from fixed geostationary satellites to a multi-orbit environment.
“It’s now GEO, MEO and LEO – and those networks have to be blended. Traffic has to be steered over the right orbit for the right application,” he said.
Hani El Arja, vice president of connectivity sales for MENA & Central Asia at Eutelsat, added: “Successful use cases we’ve seen are those that propose the solution as one solution, not a satellite solution.
“They tell the customer: You want 100 megabits? Sit back and relax. Nowadays, everybody expects capacity to be reached everywhere, and carriers especially are embracing the idea that satellite should not be a specific or special product, but part of the network infrastructure itself.”
The hybrid approach: Unpacking commercial opportunities
Beyond technical integration, the panel examined how commercial frameworks for hybrid connectivity are still taking shape. Mustafa Afifi, sales director for the Middle East at Rivada Space Networks, outlined his company’s B2B-focused approach.
“We are not approaching B2C and selling directly. It’s B2B, complementing the telcos, providing capacities, SLA-based, guaranteed SLA-based for them to package the whole product and sell it either to governments directly, oil and gas, financial sectors – high-frequency traders,” he explained.
“The Middle East is dependent on submarine cables, but what’s the backup solution?” Afifi asked. “We need to look into having critical communication via satellite.”
Hasan Zainal, managing director at Visionaria Business Consultancy, highlighted the challenges of packaging a hybrid solution for customers.
“The technology is there, and it works. The question then becomes: how do you productise that?” he said.
All the while, carriers are continuing to move from concept to deployment, which the panel said is evident through partnership announcements. For instance, STC recently partnered with SES, which Alyazeedy described as aligning very much with STC’s long-term vision when it comes to “providing delivery of resilient, consistent connectivity and serving remote areas.”
He added: “It also aligns with the country’s ambitious 2030 vision by enabling smart cities where connectivity is the foundation.”
Overcoming implementation challenges
Despite such momentum across the satellite industry, the panel identified that significant challenges remain. In particular, the panellists cited education and standardisation as being beneficial to innovation.
“There’s a lot of education needed,” Hall said. “To help blend all that, you’re going to see the technology shift into a 3GPP standardised world where satellite becomes just a blended part of the network.”
Regulatory complexity presents another hurdle, particularly for new satellite operators. Afifi noted: “In terms of challenges, from our side, it would be regulatory challenges, especially from a frequency coordination perspective. We try to solve it by engaging as early as possible with the regulatory bodies to agree on requirements and have a plan together, because some countries are more advanced than others.”
The regulatory landscape varies considerably across the region, with some markets more advanced in their frameworks than others. The panellists said this can sometimes impact deployment strategies for operators seeking to offer consistent services across multiple territories.
Looking forward, however, the panellists identified AI as a key driver for future satellite integration. Aljasmi suggested that “if we can, with our satellite operator partners, find a way to integrate the satellite solution – the new software-based systems of LEO – within this AI-driven system, that will be a success for us.”
Satellite connectivity is clearly transitioning into a critical infrastructure component. As regulatory frameworks continue to evolve, the panel said the integration of satellite and terrestrial networks could be well-poised to accelerate across the Middle East in the near future.
Alyazeedy said: “Overall, satellite connectivity is not a replacement for terrestrial networks – it complements and completes the network in order to enable the MNO to deliver resilient, secure, consistent connectivity service.”
