Mary-Louise Hoffman
Iridium Communications CEO Matt Desch has shared his thoughts on emerging satellite broadband ventures in an interview with Via Satellite magazine.
Mark Holmes writes Desch, an inductee into Executive Mosaic‘s Wash100 for 2015, told the publication he believes the plans of SpaceX and OneWeb to build their own satellite Internet networks somewhat reflect Iridium’s approach to constellation development.
During the interview, Desch said that both announcements promised to offer “interesting innovation” for the market, but he also mentioned the potential challenges of starting a satellite business.
“I’ve been around the venture capital world in my past and have found that when capital senses an opportunity, a gold rush mentality ensues where nine out of 10 ideas fail and the strongest succeeds,” he told the magazine.
He added in the interview that he sees the potential in microsatellites for multiple smaller projects and believes the technology could be a feasible tool for scientific, imaging and climate research use.
“I’m not sure the technology works as well for communications satellites yet, where a global capability and scale is required and the costs (and risks) are very high before you can effectively compete,” Desch told Via Satellite.
