If you're a small pacific island nation state with a limited budget, and a working submarine cable, maintaining a SCPC geostationary satellite service that might be $20,000 a month (on 36-60 month term) in transponder kHz may seem like a very large ongoing expense.
Ideally it would be possible to keep a backup circuit operating in a very narrow section of kHz during normal times. Along with the contractual ability to significantly expand it on demand, but more capacity on the same satellite/same polarity without physical reconfiguration of the remote end earth station may not always be possible.