Optical Satellite Comms Entering Multi-Billion-Dollar Growth Phase - Yole Group
Yole Group’s new Optical Satellite Communication 2025 report forecasts explosive growth for space-based laser communications, with the OSC market projected to reach $3 billion by 2030 as optical inter-satellite links (ISLs), ground stations, and photonic devices enter full industrial scaling.
Laser Communication Terminals (LCTs), driven by mega-constellations such as Starlink, Guowang, and Amazon Leo (formerly Kuiper), will remain the backbone of the market, with revenues expected to hit $2.4B by 2030 as annual deployments shift from hundreds to thousands of units. Optical Ground Stations (OGS) will also surge, rising from ~$100M in 2025 to ~$360M by 2030, supporting high-capacity downlinks and quantum-secure connectivity.
The optical device ecosystem is undergoing rapid innovation, with photodetectors, lasers, modulators, and power amplifiers set to reach nearly $400M in revenue by 2030. New architectures using InP and SiN photonic integrated circuits and GaN/InP power components are enabling >100 Gb/s coherent links and improved radiation resilience — key for next-generation LEO constellations.
The industry roadmap points toward:
Throughput leaps (LEO–LEO links scaling from a few Gb/s to 200 Gb/s).
Interoperability via SDA OCT, CCSDS, ESTOL, and modular ground station concepts.
Quantum-ready systems, including QKD-enabled satellites and secure optical architectures.
Optical satellite communication is entering its industrial phase. What was once experimental is now scaling at the constellation level, with thousands of terminals, standardized interfaces, and ground networks built for global reach. - Eric Mounier PhD, Chief Analyst at Yole Group
The report concludes that optical satcom has shifted from experimental to industrial: standardized, constellation-scale, and central to future broadband, Earth observation, defense, and quantum-secure networks.