Satellite communication system arranged for consecutively illuminating a plurality of contours on earth and comprising: - a transmitter device arranged for generating a signal to be transmitted and comprising * one or more hopping framers each arranged for receiving a sequence of bits multiplexed in frames and for organizing said received frames into a hopping frame according to a hopping plan indicating an order in which said plurality of contours is to be illuminated, * encoding means per hopping framer for mapping said frames, organized into said hopping frame, to a sequence of digital symbols, * modulation means per hopping framer arranged for receiving said sequence of digital symbols and for modulating said digital symbols on a waveform at a symbol rate, thereby obtaining a modulated signal to be transmitted, and for transmission of said modulated signal, said encoding means and said modulation means being arranged for indicating when a next hopping frame is needed, whereby said hopping framer is arranged for deciding on insertion of dummy data if not sufficient bits are available in said sequence of bits in order to complete said next hopping frame, - a satellite comprising a beam hopping transponder arranged for receiving said modulated signal and for outputting a version of said modulated signal to an illumination circuit arranged in said satellite for steering illumination from one contour to another particular contour according to said hopping plan, said illumination of said one contour starting at a switching time instant, - one or more receiver devices in said particular contour of said plurality of contours to be illuminated and arranged for receiving said outputted version of said modulated signal, - a central controller having an established communication link with at least one of said receiver devices and arranged for receiving via said established link information on observed illumination transitions, said central controller comprising computation means for computing an adjusted symbol rate for said transmitter device based on a comparison of said observed illumination transitions with a target switching time instant. - a transmitter device arranged for generating a signal to be transmitted and comprising * one or more hopping framers each arranged for receiving a sequence of bits multiplexed in frames and for organizing said received frames into a hopping frame according to a hopping plan indicating an order in which said plurality of contours is to be illuminated, * encoding means per hopping framer for mapping said frames, organized into said hopping frame, to a sequence of digital symbols, * modulation means per hopping framer arranged for receiving said sequence of digital symbols and for modulating said digital symbols on a waveform at a symbol rate, thereby obtaining a modulated signal to be transmitted, and for transmission of said modulated signal, said encoding means and said modulation means being arranged for indicating when a next hopping frame is needed, whereby said hopping framer is arranged for deciding on insertion of dummy data if not sufficient bits are available in said sequence of bits in order to complete said next hopping frame, * one or more hopping framers each arranged for receiving a sequence of bits multiplexed in frames and for organizing said received frames into a hopping frame according to a hopping plan indicating an order in which said plurality of contours is to be illuminated, * encoding means per hopping framer for mapping said frames, organized into said hopping frame, to a sequence of digital symbols, * modulation means per hopping framer arranged for receiving said sequence of digital symbols and for modulating said digital symbols on a waveform at a symbol rate, thereby obtaining a modulated signal to be transmitted, and for transmission of said modulated signal, said encoding means and said modulation means being arranged for indicating when a next hopping frame is needed, whereby said hopping framer is arranged for deciding on insertion of dummy data if not sufficient bits are available in said sequence of bits in order to complete said next hopping frame, - a satellite comprising a beam hopping transponder arranged for receiving said modulated signal and for outputting a version of said modulated signal to an illumination circuit arranged in said satellite for steering illumination from one contour to another particular contour according to said hopping plan, said illumination of said one contour starting at a switching time instant, - one or more receiver devices in said particular contour of said plurality of contours to be illuminated and arranged for receiving said outputted version of said modulated signal, - a central controller having an established communication link with at least one of said receiver devices and arranged for receiving via said established link information on observed illumination transitions, said central controller comprising computation means for computing an adjusted symbol rate for said transmitter device based on a comparison of said observed illumination transitions with a target switching time instant.