Blue Sky Communications provides dedicated VSAT connectivity for businesses, organisations, and remote sites where terrestrial networks are limited or unavailable. Alongside established C-band and Ku-band services, low-Earth-orbit (LEO) networks from Eutelsat OneWeb, Starlink, and Amazon Leo now offer lower latency and faster deployment. The right choice depends on bandwidth guarantees, coverage, mobility, and how the link will be used.
Established C-band and Ku-band VSAT
These services use managed iDirect networks and dedicated bandwidth in a point-to-multipoint architecture. They suit sites that need predictable capacity, professional installation, and coverage that does not depend on a dense LEO gateway footprint.
iDirect C-band. A managed iDirect platform for stable enterprise connectivity, with network monitoring across the coverage area. Coverage includes Africa, the Middle East, Central Europe, and Asia. C-band is the most resilient of these options in heavy rain.
Ku-band on Telstar 11N. Coverage of Africa except the north, with strong signal levels over East and South Africa, for iDirect Evolution terminals. A standard BUC is required to transmit. Typical minimum hardware: 1.2 m, 1.8 m, or 2.4 m Ku-band antenna; 3 W BUC; universal Ku-band DRO or PLL LNB; iDirect Evolution modem.
Arabsat 5C. C-band coverage of Africa, the Middle East, and Afghanistan on iDirect. Typical minimum hardware: 1.8 m, 2.4 m, or 3.8 m circular-polarisation C-band antenna; 2 W or 5 W C-band BUC; C-band PLL LNB.
GEO links of this type have high latency, usually about 550–700 ms round trip, and need larger antennas and a qualified install. In return they can deliver committed bandwidth, established SLAs, and, on C-band, better rain performance than Ku- or Ka-band.
LEO services
LEO satellites orbit a few hundred to about 1,200 km up, so latency is far lower than GEO and terminals are smaller. Capacity is generally shared. Performance depends on the plan, terminal, location, and how busy the beam is. Published speeds below are typical or design figures, not guaranteed throughput.
Eutelsat OneWeb
OneWeb is an enterprise and government LEO network, now part of the Eutelsat Group, rather than a direct-to-consumer broadband product. The first-generation constellation is roughly 630 satellites in polar orbits near 1,200 km, using Ku-band to the user terminal. Coverage is global, including high latitudes.
Latency is commonly in the range of about 50–100 ms. Enterprise services are usually sold in committed or tiered packages through distributors and integrators, with user rates often in the tens to low hundreds of Mbps depending on terminal and contract. Terminals are certified fixed, land-mobile, maritime, and aviation units from partners, not a single self-install consumer dish.
Service lines, named differently by each partner, typically include:
- Fixed enterprise and remote-site connectivity
- Land mobility
- Maritime
- Aviation
- Government and defence
- Cellular and enterprise backhaul
- Multi-orbit bundles that combine OneWeb LEO with Eutelsat GEO capacity
It fits energy, mining, government, maritime, aviation, and mobile-network backhaul, especially where a contract, coverage at high latitudes, or a GEO failover path matters more than the lowest consumer price.
Starlink
Starlink, operated by SpaceX, is a very large LEO constellation at roughly 550 km, with wide land, maritime, and aviation coverage, subject to local licensing. User links are Ku/Ka-band. Many satellites use optical links between spacecraft. Latency is commonly about 20–40 ms. Residential speeds often fall in the tens to low hundreds of Mbps; priority, maritime, and aviation plans can be higher, but all are shared and vary with load.
Terminals are compact phased arrays. Fixed sites can often be self-installed; mobility and aviation need approved hardware and installations.
Principal services include:
- Residential and Residential Lite — fixed home and small-site broadband, best-effort, lowest cost
- Roam — portable and in-motion land use, with regional or broader coverage options
- Priority / Business — fixed business service with a priority data allowance and higher expected performance under load
- Maritime — in-motion service for vessels, with coastal and ocean plans
- Aviation — in-flight connectivity for approved aircraft
- Direct to Cell — supplemental mobile connectivity to ordinary phones; it is not a replacement for a VSAT or high-capacity LEO terminal
Starlink is the fastest option to deploy for consumers, SMEs, temporary sites, vehicles, and many vessels. Consumer plans are not a substitute for a contracted committed-information-rate (CIR) service. Capacity can tighten in congested cells, and rain fade is more noticeable than on C-band.
Amazon Leo
Amazon Leo, formerly Project Kuiper, is Amazon’s LEO broadband constellation. The authorised system is 3,236 satellites at roughly 590–630 km, using Ka-band to customer terminals. Amazon has described three terminal classes with design capabilities of about 100 Mbps (ultra-compact), 400 Mbps (standard), and up to 1 Gbps (enterprise). Those are equipment design targets, not minimum service levels.
Intended services cover consumer broadband, business and enterprise, and government, with mobility expected as the network and terminal range mature. A practical distinction from the other two is the path into Amazon Web Services for customers that want cloud, edge, or private connectivity integrated with the link.
As of 2026 the constellation and commercial service are still ramping, and availability is limited to initial markets. It should not be treated as equivalent in coverage or service maturity to Starlink or OneWeb. Where it is offered, the standard and enterprise terminals are aimed at higher peak rates than a typical first-generation OneWeb land terminal, on a shared LEO model closer to Starlink than to a dedicated GEO CIR.
Which service to use
Use C-band or Ku-band VSAT when the site needs a contracted rate, a long-lived installation, or the best resistance to tropical rain. C-band on the iDirect and Arabsat 5C networks is the conservative choice for critical fixed sites in Africa and the Middle East. Telstar 11N Ku-band is a smaller-antenna option where its East and Southern African coverage and link budget are sufficient.
Comparison
| Blue Sky C-band / Ku-band VSAT | Eutelsat OneWeb | Starlink | Amazon Leo | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Orbit | GEO | LEO, ~1,200 km | LEO, ~550 km | LEO, ~590–630 km |
| Typical latency | 550–700 ms | ~50–100 ms | ~20–40 ms | Low, LEO-class; commercially less proven |
| Capacity model | Dedicated or managed shared; CIR available | Enterprise tiers via partners; CIR-style contracts common | Shared; priority data on business and mobility plans | Shared; consumer and enterprise plans as rollout expands |
| Typical throughput | Engineered to the contracted rate; hardware-limited | Tens to low hundreds of Mbps | Tens to low hundreds of Mbps; higher on priority and mobility plans | Design targets ~100 / 400 / 1,000 Mbps by terminal class |
| Frequency | C-band or Ku-band | Ku-band | Ku/Ka-band | Ka-band |
| Rain resilience | C-band strongest; Ku moderate | Moderate | Moderate; Ka more weather-sensitive | Ka, so more weather-sensitive than C-band |
| Coverage | Regional beams: Africa, Middle East, and selected Europe/Asia as above | Global, including polar regions | Near-global land and sea where licensed | Launching; initial markets only |
| Terminal | 1.2–3.8 m dish, BUC, LNB, iDirect modem; professional install | Partner enterprise fixed and mobility terminals | Compact phased array; many fixed sites self-install | Compact to enterprise phased arrays |
| How it is sold | Direct managed service | Wholesale through telcos and integrators | Direct to customer, plus enterprise and mobility | Direct, with an AWS-oriented enterprise path |
| Mobility | Fixed, or limited with specialised GEO mobility | Land, maritime, aviation | Roam, maritime, aviation | Planned; not as mature |
| Best fit | Predictable enterprise links, poor-weather sites, regulated or long-term remote operations | Government, energy, backhaul, aero, maritime, high latitudes | Fast deploy, SME, backup, portable, vessels, latency-sensitive apps | Higher-rate fixed broadband and cloud-centric sites where service is live |
| Main limits | Latency, antenna size, install time and cost | Not a cheap consumer product; partner lead times | Congestion, fewer classic SLAs on consumer plans, licensing | Coverage and commercial maturity still building |
Use OneWeb when the requirement is enterprise or government grade, includes mobility or high latitudes, or should sit alongside GEO capacity in a multi-orbit design. It is bought as a service contract, not as a retail dish.
Use Starlink when time to service, low latency, and broad standard hardware matter more than a classic CIR. Match the plan to the job: Residential for fixed best-effort use, Priority for business sites that need better performance under load, Roam for land mobility, and Maritime or Aviation only with approved terminals. Do not use Direct to Cell as a site-connectivity product.
Use Amazon Leo where it is actually on sale, the terminal class matches the required peak rate, and AWS integration is useful. Until coverage and operating history catch up with Starlink and OneWeb, treat it as an additional option for those markets, not as a global replacement.
For many remote operations the practical design is hybrid: LEO for low-latency day-to-day traffic, and GEO C-band or Ku-band retained for committed bandwidth, failover, or rain-heavy locations. Hardware, licensing, and achievable rates should be confirmed for the specific site before procurement.