Thaicom chief commercial officer Nile Sawansiri, said agriculture would be the next industry to embrace automation as mobile satellite technology improved.

“There are a lot of applications in agriculture, such as driverless tractors and machinery, which is not yet mainstream, but [it] is coming,” he said.

Speaking in Perth for the Orion Innovation Open Day on Tuesday, Sawansiri said advances in satellite communication were making remote monitoring and management a reality in many industries.

“Ten years ago, satellite internet was slow and expensive – but technology improvements mean that services are becoming more efficient and reliable.”

Orion, a Perth-based business, is owned by Thaicom through its Australian subsidiary, IPSTAR.

Since its 2003 inception, Orion Satellite Systems has grown from a small supplier of satellite communication services to one of only two satellite service providers in Australia to be able to claim end-to-end ownership – from modem to dish to satellite.

Orion’s clients include small communities, local agencies, pastoral stations and regional event organisers.

“There is a lot of desert in Australia and we have learnt a lot servicing projects throughout the resources boom,” Orion managing director Chris Ockwell said.

“We are in a fortunate position. We are experienced enough to know the kinds of problems companies in remote areas face, flexible enough to be able engineer specific solutions for those challenges, and backed by one of the world’s big satellite companies with extremely robust technology behind us to make things happen.”