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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Telesat is positioning Telstar-19 Vantage at 63 degrees West, the same orbital slot occupied by its seven-year-old Ku-band Telstar-14R satellite.
SpaceX launched the Telstar 19 Vantage telecom satellite for Telesat on 2018-07-22 using a Block 5 Falcon 9 rocket.
MDA is interested in opportunities to provide components or services for Telesat’s LEO constellation.
Telesat has one demonstration satellite already in orbit that was launched 2018-01-12 on India’s PSLV rocket.
Ontario pledged up to CA$20,000,000 in its 2018 budget to support Telesat’s LEO satellite constellation.
Telesat’s LEO constellation is expected to enter service in 2022.
Telesat will provide HTS capacity over Asia with Telstar-18 Vantage/Apstar-5C, a satellite shared with APT Satellite of Hong Kong.
Telesat LEO plans to incorporate satellite-to-satellite links on its future constellation.
Large telecom constellation programs from LeoSat, Telesat, and SpaceX anticipate using optical intersatellite links.
Global Eagle identifies Telesat’s consistent global coverage over the open ocean, polar regions, and high-latitude routes, sub-50-millisecond latency, and open architecture business model as advantages of Telesat’s LEO platform.
On 2020-05-15 Global Eagle and Telesat agreed to collaborate on designing user terminals, service offerings, and marketing plans for Telesat’s LEO constellation.
Telesat is signing up multiple partners to test its demonstration satellite, including maritime connectivity provider OmniAccess and Australian fleet operator Optus.
Global Eagle will test a newly developed Ka-band antenna with Telesat’s LEO satellite.
Telesat has not yet selected a manufacturer to build the operational satellites but plans to select one in the coming months to begin service by 2021.
Telesat and Global Eagle will use Telesat’s Phase 1 LEO satellite to test connectivity for aviation and maritime users.
Telesat’s cash and cash equivalents grew by 56 percent to CA$516,800,000 after 2018-03-31.
Telesat had CA$3,500,000,000 in long-term indebtedness as of 2018-03-31.
A prototype satellite for Telesat’s LEO constellation built by Surrey Satellite Technology Limited is in orbit to test technologies and service provision.
Telesat reported a CA$15,000,000 loss on CA$232,000,000 in revenue for the quarter, citing foreign exchange rates on U.S.-dollar denominated debt as the main reason.
Telesat operates 15 geostationary satellites, three of which have full 50-state coverage of the United States in C-band.