Ground stations close to the poles of the Earth have low elevation look angles , and signals have to pass through a thicker section of atmosphere. 500MHz receive bandwidth and full capability at of latitude. An antenna this large has a very narrow beam, typically . A geostationary satellite is not truly stationary, it wanders slightly in the sky. The very narrow beam width of the receiver requires automatic tracking of the satellite, and continuous pointing of the receiver antenna.
Satellite systems are extremely expensive.
The use of satellites for regional communication is possible if there is sufficient demand for traffic. By reducing the range of latitudes down to , and reducing the bandwidth down to 50MHz, large reductions in satellite and ground station receiver costs are possible. The region is split into areas, roughly coincident with the satellite antenna gain contours, denoting increased cost of receiver technology. The Satellite Business System operational schematic Improvements in satellite receiver technology have permitted smaller antennas to be used as ground station receivers. However, antennas are reciprocal.