Most eyes in the satellite world are glued to the behemoths: SpaceX with its Starlink, Amazon with its nascent Kuiper, and the impending behemoth of a merged SES and Intelsat. But beneath the noise of these giants, a quiet Israeli company, Gilat Satellite Networks (GILT), is stealthily carving out a dominant position in the satellite ground segment, a critical but often overlooked piece of the puzzle.

What struck me in Gilat's recent Q1 2024 earnings call wasn't the 29% year-over-year revenue growth, impressive as it was. It was the subtle hints about their strategy and the colossal scale of the opportunities they're chasing. While analysts focused on the immediate impact of the DataPath acquisition and the SES-Intelsat merger, they missed the bigger picture: Gilat is playing a long game, and they're positioned to be the kingmaker in a market about to explode.

Gilat's CEO, Adi Sfadia, casually dropped a bombshell during the GILT Q1 2024 Earnings Call: they're already delivering Solid State Power Amplifiers (SSPAs) to a new NGSO operator for gateway deployments. Now, why is this significant? SSPAs are the heart of satellite ground stations, amplifying signals to ensure reliable communication. And NGSOs, or Non-Geostationary Orbit Satellites, are the future of high-bandwidth, low-latency satellite internet.

He then went on to say: "We believe this success positions us well as the main SSPA supplier to this operator and potentially to receive a large share of the future business, which is worth tens of millions of dollars."

That's tens of millions for just one NGSO operator. Remember, there are three major constellations on the horizon: Amazon's Kuiper, OneWeb's Gen2, and the European IRIS². Each of these will need thousands of gateway SSPAs. If Gilat secures even a fraction of those contracts, we're talking about a revenue surge that dwarfs their current defense business, which is projected at over $60 million this year.

"Here's where it gets interesting: who is this mysterious NGSO operator? My bet is on Amazon's Kuiper. Amazon is notoriously secretive, and Gilat, bound by confidentiality agreements, can't name them. But the timeline fits: Kuiper's service is planned for 2026, and SSPA orders would logically come in 2025."

And that's just the beginning. Gilat is a finalist for OneWeb's Gen2 ground segment, a contract potentially worth hundreds of millions. They're also in the running for IRIS², vying for a slice of a multi-billion dollar pie.

The implications are clear: Gilat is quietly assembling a ground segment empire. They're the trusted partner of established operators like SES and Intelsat, and they're winning crucial early contracts with the next generation of satellite internet providers. As the satellite market expands exponentially in the coming years, Gilat's technology and expertise will be in high demand.

Gilat's Projected Revenue Growth

This table illustrates the potential revenue explosion Gilat could experience by securing a portion of the SSPA contracts for major NGSO constellations:

Note: These figures are estimates based on industry projections and the assumption that Gilat captures 25% of the SSPA market for each constellation. Actual results may vary.

The Satellite Highway Analogy

Think of it this way: if the satellite constellations are the highways in the sky, Gilat is building the on-ramps and off-ramps. They're the essential link between satellites and users, and they're positioned to profit handsomely from the coming data deluge.

While investors chase the hype of high-profile satellite launches, Gilat's silent revolution is already underway. They're not building rockets or launching satellites, but they're laying the groundwork for a future where satellite internet is ubiquitous. And that, my friends, is a game-changer.

"Fun Fact: Gilat was founded in 1987, the same year the first commercial VSAT (Very Small Aperture Terminal) network was launched. It's as if they were born for this moment, a testament to their deep roots in the satellite industry."