O3b Networks - Latency

Below is a table showing a comparison of some latency figures of the O3b and a typical geosynchronous satellite system. The O3b Networks MEO orbit constellation is at an altitude of 8,063 Kilometers, while the geosynchronous satellite at 35,786 Kilometers.

The table shows that a ground station in Lagos, Nigeria using an O3b Networks MEO satellite to connect to a teleport in Almeria, Spain will experience round trip time (RTT) ranging from 122 to 133 milliseconds. If we add in the average internet latency from the Almeria teleport to most internet destinations in Europe (60 ms), we end up with an overall latency from Lagos to a European internet site of 183 to 193 milliseconds. This range of latency is caused by the change in distance to the ground sites relative to the moving O3b Satellites. The AOS is the Acquisition of Signal, and the LOS is the point at which the O3b system will perform the handover to the next rising satellite. The Maximum Elevation is the point at which the satellite is closest to the customer ground station which explains why this point has the lowest latency. By comparison, the same Lagos customer site using a geosynchronous satellite to a European internet site using will have to see latencies of 552 milliseconds.