What is VHTS?
Very High Throughput Satellite (VHTS) is the designation for GEO satellites with total capacity exceeding approximately 500 Gbps — a step beyond the HTS category (which covers 100–500 Gbps) through extreme beam multiplicity, advanced frequency reuse, and the introduction of Q/V-band gateway feeder links to free up more Ka-band spectrum for user beams.
Key VHTS examples
ViaSat-3: Three-satellite global constellation, each satellite delivering over 1 Tbps of total throughput using hundreds of spot beams. ViaSat-3 Americas was launched in April 2023. Eutelsat Konnect VHTS: Launched in 2023, provides 500 Gbps over Europe and the Mediterranean with 65 user beams and Q/V-band gateway links, enabling per-MHz efficiencies of approximately 200 bps/Hz. SES O3b mPOWER: Although MEO (not GEO), achieves terabit-class capacity across its 11-satellite MEO constellation launched from 2023.
Q/V-band gateway advantage
A key innovation enabling VHTS is moving the satellite-to-gateway (feeder) links from Ka-band to Q/V-band (37.5–51.4 GHz). This frees the entire Ka-band allocation for user beams — effectively doubling the user-accessible bandwidth. The penalty is severe rain fade at Q/V frequencies, requiring geographically diverse gateway sites so that when one gateway experiences a deep rain fade event, traffic is automatically rerouted to a clear-sky gateway.