Satellite Runs on CGNAT. Do It for Millions at ~$0.30 a Subscriber.

A one-page take for commercial & finance leaders at LEO operators (Jio, Starlink and others): every terminal shares scarce IPv4 behind carrier-grade NAT. The only question is what that costs you per subscriber, per gateway — and at constellation scale, the answer moves the P&L.

Satellite is, by definition, a CGNAT operator — millions of terminals on a handful of public IPv4. Run that on commodity x86, and the ground-segment core costs cents per subscriber, not a chassis per gateway.

Millions

on scarce IPv4

CGNAT is the default
at satellite scale

~$0.30

per subscriber

CGNAT + BNG + QoS on
commodity x86

Scale-out

per gateway

add standard servers —
no proprietary chassis

The math the constellation can't escape

IPv4 is exhausted; you will never get public addresses for millions of terminals. So every LEO operator runs CGNAT already (Starlink maps each dish's private 10.64.0.0/10 address to a shared public IP). The cost lever is how you do it: a proprietary carrier-CGNAT chassis per gateway, or carrier-grade CGNAT in software on the servers you already buy.

Ground-segment CGNAT + BNG cost per subscriber (directional) INDICATIVE

Relative, for a large subscriber base across gateways. BNGSOFT = commodity x86 + software license; the appliance bar is a directional placeholder for a proprietary carrier-CGNAT tier — replace with your own quotes.

Proprietary carrier CGNAT chassis

several × the cost — capex + support + lock-in

$$$ / sub

BNGSOFT on commodity x86

~$0.30 / sub

+ license

One box does it all per gateway. CGNAT, BNG subscriber management, per-beam QoS and edge security run in a single XDP data plane — so there's no separate CGNAT tier, no per-gateway chassis, and the unit cost falls as you scale on standard servers.

What the CFO gets

CAPEX

Cents, not chassis.

~$0.30/sub on hardware you already procure; no proprietary line cards.
No second hardware tier just for CGNAT.

SCALE-OUT

Grows with the constellation.

Add commodity servers per gateway as terminals grow — predictable, linear cost.
Software-licensed; no forklift, no vendor lock-in.

COMPLIANCE

Traceable by design.

Deterministic port-block CGNAT + IPFIX/syslog logging for lawful intercept & abuse tracing.
Fewer logs to store, easier audits.

Honest framing: the ~$0.30/subscriber figure is BNGSOFT commodity-hardware guidance (ex-software-license, optics and ops) and must be validated for your gateway design and traffic. The appliance comparison is directional — drop in your own carrier-CGNAT quotes to make it exact. The point isn't a precise number; it's that software-on-x86 CGNAT changes the per-subscriber economics at constellation scale.

The bottom line

Every LEO operator is a CGNAT operator — the only variable is cost per subscriber. BNGSOFT runs carrier-grade CGNAT + BNG + QoS + security in one XDP data plane on commodity x86 at ~$0.30/sub, scaling out per gateway with the constellation. Conserve the IPv4 you'll never have — at cents per subscriber, not a chassis per gateway.

Sources & honest framing: Exec brief positioning BNGSOFT ground-segment CGNAT economics for LEO satellite operators (Jio, Starlink and others); not a benchmark or quote. The ~$0.30/subscriber figure is BNGSOFT commodity-server hardware guidance (excluding software license, optics and operational costs) and is indicative — validate per gateway design and traffic. The cost-comparison bar is directional and excludes vendor-specific pricing on both sides; replace with real quotes for a binding comparison. Satellite CGNAT facts (shared public IPv4, private 10.64.0.0/10, all subscribers behind CGNAT by default; IPv4 exhaustion driver) — CGNAT on Starlink explained. Starlink®, Jio® and other names are trademarks of their owners; BNGSOFT is not affiliated.