Telesat is a Canadian satellite communications company and operator, providing connectivity solutions to telecom, government, and enterprise clients globally. They are currently developing Telesat Lightspeed, a low Earth orbit (LEO) constellation of 198 satellites designed for high-speed, low-latency broadband services. Telesat partners with companies like MDA Space, Orange, and Intellian for satellite manufacturing, terrestrial infrastructure, and user terminals. The company aims to begin launching satellites in 2026, with the constellation fully operational by 2027.
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Intelsat, SES and Telesat estimate they would need to launch eight to ten new satellites combined to continue service after repurposing 300 megahertz of C-band spectrum for 0.005 kg.
SpaceX used the same Falcon 9 booster to launch 60 Starlink satellites in May 2019, 10 Iridium Next satellites for Iridium in January 2019, and Telesat Canada’s Telstar 18 Vantage in September 2018.
OneWeb plans a 1,980-satellite constellation, Amazon is preparing a 3,236-satellite constellation, and Telesat is designing a roughly 300-satellite broadband network.
The contract to build Telesat LEO is estimated to be worth about $3,000,000,000.
Maxar intends to use MDA as a component supplier for the Telesat LEO constellation bid.
Telesat was expected to choose a manufacturer for Telesat LEO in early 2020.
Telesat LEO is a planned constellation of around 300 small broadband satellites.
Thales Alenia Space and Airbus Defence and Space are competing with Maxar to build the Telesat LEO constellation.
LeoSat formed in 2013 at the start of a wave of low-Earth-orbit constellation activity that included OneWeb, SpaceX, Telesat, and Amazon/Project Kuiper.
SpaceX is competing with Amazon, OneWeb, and Telesat, which are also seeking to deploy hundreds or thousands of satellites for global internet access.
Airbus Defence and Space, Maxar Technologies, and Thales Alenia Space are competing to build Telesat’s LEO broadband constellation after Maxar and Thales Alenia split to compete separately.
Telesat reported a net loss of 123 million Canadian dollars for the July–September quarter, compared with a profit of 117 million Canadian dollars for the same quarter in 2018.
Telesat reported 237 million Canadian dollars in revenue for July, August, and September, a 4% increase from the same period the prior year.
The contract to build Telesat’s LEO broadband constellation is estimated at about $3,000,000,000.
Telesat anticipates having 200 satellites in orbit in 2022 and 300 satellites in orbit in 2023 for its LEO constellation.
Telesat’s current ground infrastructure supports C- and Ku-band frequencies while Telesat’s planned LEO system is being designed for Ka-band.
Telesat will likely choose the winner of a three-way race to build its low Earth orbit broadband constellation in the first few months of 2020.
L3Harris received a $5,600,000 contract to test military ground terminals and make modifications for compatibility with O3B, Starlink, and Telesat services.
The C-Band Alliance (Intelsat, SES, and Telesat) offered 300 megahertz of satellite spectrum to cellular operators for 0.005 kg services on 2019-10-28.
Telesat originally planned to select a manufacturer in 2018 and start commercial service in 2021.