Quantum Computing Generative AI & LLMs Drones Satellite Comms Group Messaging Platforms Crypto- currency IoT Devices Metaverse Social Media Incitement 19 Satellite communications Traditional satellite communications providers, such as Iridium, Thuraya and Inmarsat, have been providing satellite phone services for many years, and today support a subscriber base of a few million users worldwide. This legacy domain is undergoing disruption as new and more advanced satellite constellations are being launched, fast and affordable satellite broadband service has emerged, and the first stages of convergence between traditional mobile phones and satellite telephony have begun. Starlink, a satellite constellation of over 5,000 thousand low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites, was launched by SpaceX in 2019. Competing satellite broadband players, such as OneWeb and O3B, are emerging, and additional players such as the Amazon-backed Project Kuiper have announced plans to invest and launch their own new satellite constellations. With satellite communications maturing and becoming commoditized, this technology is becoming more widely accessible to a broader population, both for legitimate as well as illicit purposes. Satellite internet Criminals, including drug traffickers, smugglers and illegal miners, have long used satellite communications in remote regions with poor mobile coverage, but until now, that entailed installing a heavy, fixed antenna in challenging terrain and conditions. And those connections were slow and unstable, especially in bad weather. Starlink’s service offers affordable pricing, fast speeds, easy do-it- yourself installation, and the routers are small and portable. As a result, criminals have begun to adopt the service. For example, police in Brazil have reported seizing Starlink terminals in raids at numerous illegal mining camps 16 . Even governments which have not yet licensed Starlink for use are seeing the service being operated illegally in their countries. Regulators in Ghana, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Senegal have recently issued warnings to the public and Starlink resellers against operating without permission 17 . Especially in remote, rural and hard to reach areas, which typically suffer from limited mobile and fixed telephony coverage, satellite is becoming the new internet backbone. Impact: Satellite Comms CONNECTED WORLD Responsible AI Human-Machine Collaboration Video Analytics