KSAT and SSC will give you 26 stations and 150 antennas. Neither of them will give you the deed.
Ground segment as a service is fast, automated and well documented. It also means your telemetry lands on someone else's territory, under someone else's law, with someone else's scheduling priority in a crisis.
We supply working ground-segment equipment: antennas and control facilities carrying live tasking, telemetry and data reception for missions in service. This is delivered and sustained hardware, installed and maintained in region rather than operated for you from a distant network operations centre.
Side by side
| Attribute | Represented by UnstratGround stations | KSAT (Kongsberg Satellite Services)KSATlite ground segment as a service12Norway | SSC Space (Swedish Space Corporation)Ground Station Services network3Sweden |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ownership model13 | You own the antennas and control facilities outright, on your soil | Fully automated ground segment as a service, sold as network access | Ground station services across an operated network, with hosting services offered from design through antenna installation and operations |
| Network size13 | Not published | 26 stations globally distributed with more than 150 antennas | 10 stations operated globally, complemented by 11 partner stations |
| Antenna sizes13 | Not published | 3.7 m to 6.1 m | Not published on the cited page |
| Bands supported13 | Not published | S-band up and down, X-band down, Ka-band down | Not published on the cited page; the network also offers optical space-to-ground laser services in early phase |
| Published availability13 | Not published | Historical performance above 99.75% globally | Not published on the cited page |
| Scheduling and automation13 | Tasking, telemetry and data reception under your control | API-driven scheduling, machine-to-machine interfaces, customer portal and anomaly detection | Launch and early orbit phase, critical TT&C and on-orbit services; interfaces not published on the cited page |
| Where your telemetry and payload data land123 | On your territory | On KSAT's global network, described as spanning Svalbard to Antarctica, and on partner networks in the network-of-networks arrangement | On SSC stations and partner stations including sites in Antarctica, Finland, Spain, Italy, Germany, South Africa, India and Japan |
| Contention with other customers13Shared networks are efficient until two customers want the same pass during the same crisis. | None. The pass schedule is yours | Shared network serving over 150 operators, with 145,000 contacts per month | Shared network; contention terms not published on the cited page |
| Role in the mission13 | The terrestrial backbone for tasking, telemetry and data reception | Also offers satellite operations as complete mission control services, data management and ground-station-in-space services | Also offers hosting, teleport services and launch and early orbit support |
| Origin and political exposure13 | Independent and non-aligned | Norway; Kongsberg Satellite Services | Sweden; state-owned Swedish Space Corporation |
Competitor values are quoted from the vendor documents listed under Sources, as published on the date shown. Configurations vary, so treat every row as a starting point for the evaluation rather than a like-for-like test result.
What the table means
The service networks are genuinely good, and that is the problem
KSATlite gives an operator 26 stations, more than 150 antennas and above 99.75% historical performance, bookable through an API. No national programme will match that coverage in its first decade, and pretending otherwise would be dishonest. What a national programme gets instead is custody: telemetry and payload data received on its own soil, a pass schedule nobody else contends for, and no foreign operator able to suspend a contract during a diplomatic incident.
Most programmes should run both
The sensible architecture for a new space power is national antennas for anything sensitive, plus commercial network access for launch and early orbit phase, for polar passes and for surge. SSC sells exactly that early-orbit support, and KSAT publishes automation that makes surge easy. Buying national stations does not mean refusing commercial passes. It means the commercial network is a convenience rather than the only way to reach your own spacecraft.
What we do not publish yet
Our ground-station specification does not currently state antenna diameters, bands, G/T or availability. Those are the numbers a ground-segment engineer will ask for first, and a buyer should demand them in writing rather than accept a description of function. What is already clear from the delivery model is ownership: the antennas and the control facility are yours, sited where your ministry decides.
Questions buyers ask
What is the best alternative to KSATlite for a government that cannot let telemetry land abroad?
National ground stations you own. KSATlite is a strong commercial product, with 26 stations, more than 150 antennas from 3.7 m to 6.1 m and above 99.75% historical performance, but by design your data is received on KSAT's network. If your legal or security position requires reception on national territory, that is a hard constraint no service network can satisfy. We supply the antennas and control facilities so tasking, telemetry and reception stay inside your borders.
How does owning ground stations compare with buying ground segment as a service on cost of ownership?
Service access has near-zero capital cost and scales instantly across a global network. Ownership costs capital, site works, power, security and staff, and it never matches a commercial network for pass count. The variables that flip the calculation are mission duration, data volume and sensitivity. If you plan to fly national satellites for a decade and downlink classified imagery, a service contract quietly becomes the more expensive option and the less controllable one.
Can a national ground station and a commercial network work together?
Yes, and most serious programmes do exactly that. SSC publishes launch and early orbit phase and critical TT&C services, which is the phase where extra antennas matter most. Use commercial passes for early orbit, polar coverage and surge, and your own antennas for routine operations and anything you would not want processed abroad.
What specifications should we demand before signing a ground station contract?
Antenna diameter, G/T, EIRP, bands supported in each direction, tracking rates, availability commitment and the sustainment plan for spares and firmware. KSAT publishes size, bands and historical availability. We do not publish those figures yet, so ask us for them in writing during evaluation and compare like for like rather than trusting either description.
Sources
- 1. Kongsberg Satellite Services (KSAT), KSATlite: Smart, Secure and Scalable Ground OperationsRetrieved: 2026-07-31
- 2. Kongsberg Satellite Services (KSAT), Vessel Detection ServicesRetrieved: 2026-07-31 · Cited for the statement that downlink happens on KSAT's own global antenna network from Svalbard to Antarctica.
- 3. SSC Space (Swedish Space Corporation), Ground Station Services and Our Ground StationsRetrieved: 2026-07-31