Canadian satellite operator Telesat has reported its Q1 numbers, revealing earned revenues of $87 million (€54.4m) – a 25 per cent drop compared with the previous year.

Telesat is betting big on its planned low Earth orbiting constellation. The company noted that it has invested a total of approximately C$2.7 billion in the Telesat Lightspeed programme, including both expensed and capitalised costs. Telesat added that it continued to plan to introduce a Lightspeed commercial service around the end of Q1 2028.

Dan Goldberg, Telesat’s President and CEO , commented: “Our GEO results are tracking to our expectations, and we continue to make strong progress on the development of the Telesat Lightspeed constellation. During the quarter, we held further design reviews with our satellite and launch vehicle dispenser manufacturers and progressed our work on user terminals, network and satellite operations software development, and ground station deployments. As of the end of the quarter, we’ve invested a total of approximately C$2.7 billion in the Telesat Lightspeed programme.”

“In our GEO business, we continued to manage ongoing revenue pressures with a disciplined approach to cost control, allowing us to partially mitigate the impact of topline pressure on margins and generate resilient cash flow from our existing satellite fleet. Today, we are reiterating our revenue and adjusted EBITDA guidance for the year for our GEO segment,” Goldberg added.

Outlining its revenues, Telesat said: “In our GEO segment, revenue for the quarter was V$86 million, a 26 per cent decline (C$30 million) from the same period in 2025 (24 percent excluding the impact of foreign exchange). The revenue decline was driven primarily by non-renewals of certain broadcast contracts in 2025 and, to a lesser extent, reductions in services for fixed broadband customers, partially offset by new contracts in our aviation segment. GEO segment adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was C$53 million, a 37 per cent ($34 million) decline from the comparable period in 2025 (35 per cent excluding the impact of foreign exchange), reflecting lower revenue, partially offset by lower operating expenses. Adjusted EBITDA for Q1 included $7 million in expenses relating to our debt refinancing process. Excluding these costs, GEO segment adjusted EBITDA margin was 72 per cent during the quarter, compared to 77 per cent in the same period of 2025.”

Telesat’s backlog was C$800 million (although its pre-orders for Lightspeed are about C$1.1 billion).

Telesat expects the full year to see revenues of C$300-C$320 million.

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Categories: Articles, Business, Results

Tags: goldberg, lightspeed, telesat