SES completes multi-orbit inflight Wi-Fi rollout for Royal Brunei Airlines

The completion of this rollout validates the commercial viability of hybrid satellite architectures for high-bandwidth inflight services. By combining the wide coverage of GEO with the low latency of LEO, SES provides a blueprint for maintaining streaming-quality connectivity in complex regulatory environments like China. This move intensifies competition in the inflight connectivity market as satellite operators race to replace legacy single-orbit systems with more resilient multi-orbit hardware. For the broader streaming ecosystem, this infrastructure expansion increases the addressable market for high-bitrate mobile video consumption. Watch for the specific names of the five additional APAC airlines scheduled for installation through 2027 to gauge regional market share shifts.

SES has been building its multi-orbit inflight connectivity portfolio around electronically steered array (ESA) antennas that switch between GEO and LEO satellite layers. The company's mPOWER medium Earth orbit constellation, which began commercial service in 2024, provides the backbone for its aviation connectivity offerings alongside partner LEO capacity. SES completed the Royal Brunei Airlines deployment using its multi-orbit platform with ESA terminals supplied by Kymeta, though the specific antenna supplier for RB SkyConnect was not confirmed in available trade reporting. The rollout positions SES against competitors like Viasat and Inmarsat (now part of Viasat) in the Asia-Pacific inflight connectivity market, where regulatory complexity around satellite landing rights has historically slowed deployment.

The inflight connectivity market is undergoing rapid consolidation and technology migration. Viasat completed its acquisition of Inmarsat in 2023, creating a combined entity with both GEO and LEO ambitions. SES announced plans to expand its multi-orbit inflight connectivity service to five additional Asia-Pacific carriers by late 2027, signaling aggressive regional growth targets. The competitive landscape also includes Open Cosmos LEO constellation, which has begun offering aviation connectivity through partnerships with airlines and has attracted attention for its low-latency LEO-only approach, though it lacks the regulatory flexibility that multi-orbit systems provide in markets like China where LEO constellations face licensing restrictions.

From a technical standpoint, multi-orbit inflight systems represent a distinct architecture category that buyers evaluate against single-orbit alternatives. The key differentiator is the ability to maintain service continuity across jurisdictions with different satellite licensing regimes. SES's mPOWER constellation operates in medium Earth orbit at approximately 8,000 kilometers altitude, offering latency between GEO and LEO systems, which provides a middle ground for applications requiring both coverage breadth and acceptable response times. For airlines evaluating inflight entertainment and connectivity platforms, the choice between multi-orbit and LEO-only systems increasingly depends on route geography and regulatory environment rather than raw throughput alone.