For decades, farmers in remote regions have faced a fundamental connectivity challenge that has held back agricultural innovation. While urban farmers can tap into the ubiquitous coverage of cellular networks, remote agricultural operations often find themselves in connectivity dead zones, forced to rely on manual checks and outdated monitoring systems. The addition of satellite connectivity to the internet of things (IoT) ecosystem could change all that.
Satellite-enabled IoT leverages satellite communications to connect devices and sensors in locations where terrestrial cellular or Wi-Fi networks are unavailable, unreliable or economically unfeasible to deploy—a potentially critical solution for remote connectivity, real-time data collection and advanced analytics that drive significant operational efficiencies.
According to ABI Research, the global IoT market for software and service revenue will grow from $277 billion in 2024 to $606 billion by 2030. Satellite connectivity can contribute to that growth with its ability to reach remote, mobile, disaster-affected and other unconnected environments-- a connectivity gap that affects approximately 85% of the world’s surface that lacks reliable cellular network coverage.
“What we define as IoT is telematics, agriculture asset tracking, video surveillance, inventory management—these sort of things,” said Andrew Cavalier, senior analyst at ABI. “If you’re looking at the overall IoT pie, satellite is still quite small. In the world of satellite and space, IoT is still a very niche application area.”
Still, ABI estimates the current satellite IoT market at 8.4 million devices and forecasts that connection revenue will surge to $9.5 billion by 2030. For enterprises in sectors like agriculture managing thousands of acres of cropland or ranchers overseeing extensive grazing lands, the inability to rely on terrestrial networks has created a barrier to implementing IoT solutions.
“[Agriculture has] been this sort of promised land of growth for a long time, but we’re seeing that really happening at the moment.” -Damian Lewis, Viasat
“Agriculture is a really interesting industry across our product range,” said Damian Lewis, Viasat’s enterprise market development manager. “It’s been this sort of promised land of growth for a long time, but we’re seeing that really happening at the moment.”
From Simple Sensors to Smart Farms
Unlike businesses that require consistent high-speed internet, farming operations need a diverse spectrum of solutions—from simple data bursts that report water levels once a day to high-throughput streaming from sophisticated machinery. Precision agriculture practices enabled by satellite-connected IoT devices could maximize yields while minimizing resource utilization. Networks of soil moisture sensors, weather stations and crop monitoring devices could provide comprehensive data that guides precise irrigation, fertilization and pest management decisions.
Ranchbot, for example, has partnered with Viasat to distribute signals from its real-time water monitoring platform aimed at livestock operations. The systems track water levels at remote pump sites and tanks, eliminating the practice of sending ranch hands to manually check isolated water sources.
“Operationally from a cost perspective, there’s a big benefit there,” Lewis said. “It’s good for the welfare of the animals too, and very positive from a sustainability perspective because you’re reducing sending people back and forth to check these things.”
That type of application relies on small data bursts over satellite connections with latency of just a few seconds. For a remote rancher managing thousands of acres, eliminating the risk of water shortages without human intervention could be a game-changer.
For livestock operations spanning extensive grazing lands, satellite-enabled IoT solutions could provide capabilities for animal monitoring and management. GPS-equipped collars transmit location data, enabling ranchers to track herd movements across vast territories. Biometric sensors monitor animal health parameters, alerting managers to potential issues before they become serious problems.
Modern farming equipment generates large amounts of telemetry data that requires reliable transmission from remote field locations, so equipment manufacturers demand high-volume data collection from heavy machinery and automated vehicles.
Modern farming equipment also generates large amounts of telemetry data that requires reliable transmission from remote field locations, so equipment manufacturers like John Deere are demanding high-volume data collection from heavy machinery and automated vehicles. Modern agricultural equipment represents substantial capital investments that must be carefully maintained to maximize useful life and minimize downtime. Satellite-connected telematics systems can help monitor equipment performance metrics, enabling predictive maintenance approaches that address potential issues before they cause failures.
Sateliot is targeting that farming equipment directly. The Barcelona-based startup’s LEO constellation provides standardized 5G narrowband IoT connectivity directly to conventional agricultural devices. That eliminates the need for farmers to invest in new specialized equipment, making advanced agricultural IoT accessible to operations of all sizes, said Sateliot CEO Jaume Sanpera. With commercial services set to launch this year, Sateliot has already secured contracts covering millions of devices globally, spanning everything from soil monitoring systems to automated irrigation networks and smart silo management, Sanpera said.
Finding the Connectivity Sweet Spot
The agricultural connectivity market has historically been split between two extremes: low-throughput L-band services and broadband solutions like those provided by Starlink and other LEO operators.
“The biggest thing really is cost,” said ABI’s Cavalier. “When you’re looking at trying to implement any kind of IoT solution, how many do you need to connect? How much is the hardware? As more capacity comes online from Starlink, Amazon and all these new players, they’re going to start to drive down costs because they’re going to start offering solutions that are far more accessible from a cost perspective.”
Companies like Israel-based hiSky—which makes terminals that connect multiple IoT devices in remote locations that are then connected through its hubs to a satellite—are targeting the higher end of data requirements, with solutions that offer 500 kbps to 1 Mbps throughput.
“The bit rates that we’re achieving are between half a megabit to one megabit per second, which is way beyond what typical IoT is,” said Gidi Talmor, vice president of sales for hiSky. “We can provide connectivity for several assets together on the same carrier.”
HiSky’s terminals combine satellite modems, antennas and GPS capabilities in integrated units. For agricultural applications, hiSky’s solutions enable connectivity for applications ranging from soil monitoring to equipment tracking. Its frequency hopping technology enables their devices to maintain reliable connections even with minimal power requirements, making them suitable for battery-powered sensors deployed across expansive agricultural operations. For farmers, this translates to more affordable and adaptable satellite IoT solutions that can evolve as their operations grow.
Success in agricultural satellite IoT also depends on partnerships that combine satellite connectivity expertise with deep agricultural domain knowledge. Satellite operators are increasingly teaming with IoT players and mobile network operators to address agricultural connectivity gaps more effectively. These partnerships take multiple forms, from satellite operators collaborating to leverage different orbits, technologies and spectrum allocations, to mobile network operators (MNOs) partnering with satellite providers to extend terrestrial coverage into rural agricultural areas.
The next evolution of equipment is likely to involve embedding satellite connectivity directly into agricultural equipment and sensors.
The next evolution of equipment is likely to involve embedding satellite connectivity directly into agricultural equipment and sensors. This embedded approach could reduce cost and complexity while making satellite connectivity more seamless for agricultural users, giving farmers connected equipment that simply works out of the box.
“Your agriculture tank monitoring sensor can just have this module built in,” said Lewis of Viasat. “You know—stick the right antenna on and you’re good to go.”
The Standards Challenge
Despite the growing opportunities, the satellite IoT agricultural market faces a fundamental challenge around standardization: the divide between proprietary solutions and emerging standards-based approaches. Many satellite IoT providers still rely on proprietary protocols, creating interoperability barriers.
“If everybody’s just going to pump out their own chipsets for different protocols and whatnot, it’s going to keep opportunities segmented.” -Andrew Cavalier, ABI
“The challenge is really the fragmentation between all the different protocols,” said ABI’s Cavalier. “If everybody’s just going to pump out their own chipsets for different protocols and whatnot, it’s going to keep opportunities segmented,” ABI’s Cavalier said.
The fragmentation issue directly impacts the agricultural market’s growth potential, since farmers and agricultural equipment manufacturers could be reluctant to invest in connectivity solutions that might become obsolete or incompatible with future systems.
The most promising solution may lie in NB-IoT (Narrowband IoT), a Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) technology standardized by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) that’s optimized for devices requiring infrequent transmission of small data amounts while maintaining long battery life. In late 2024, 3GPP added a new work item to its next set of global standards for cellular technology that focuses on enhancing the NB-IoT protocol’s role in non-terrestrial networks (NTN). “If everybody can get on the same standard, then you can really address a bigger market,” Cavalier said.
The agricultural satellite IoT market appears poised for growth as technology innovation continues and costs decline, with potential opportunities in everything from basic monitoring to high-throughput data collection. For farmers, this evolution promises more efficient, sustainable and profitable operations that likely wouldn’t be possible without ubiquitous connectivity.
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