What is SES O3b mPOWER?
SES O3b mPOWER is SES's second-generation Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) broadband constellation, launched progressively from 2023. It follows the original O3b constellation (7 satellites launched 2013–2019), which pioneered MEO-based low-latency broadband with performance that surprised an industry accustomed to GEO's 550 ms round-trip delays. mPOWER extends this with dramatically increased capacity and flexibility.
Technical specifications
Each mPOWER satellite operates at 8,063 km altitude — above the main Van Allen radiation belts but well below GEO — producing round-trip latency of approximately 130 ms. The constellation is fully software-defined with digital beamforming: each satellite can form up to 5,000 concurrent software-defined beams of variable size, pointing, and power, enabling real-time capacity allocation to match demand. Boeing built the satellites using a 702MP bus; each satellite provides several hundred Gbps of throughput capacity. The 11-satellite mPOWER fleet combined with 20 legacy O3b satellites provides approximately 10 Tbps of total system capacity — comparable to the Starlink constellation's initial capacity.
Market positioning
O3b mPOWER's ~130 ms latency — half that of GEO but 2–5× more than LEO Starlink — and its high throughput make it attractive for applications needing more than GEO can provide but where the premium price of LEO isn't justified. Key customers include Vodafone, BT, Sprint, and multiple government/defence agencies. SES prices O3b mPOWER on committed throughput (Mbps) contracts rather than transponder leases, directly competing with terrestrial fibre in markets where fibre is unavailable.