California-based satellite operator Viasat, which already has agreements in place with the likes of Eutelsat’s OneWeb, has added Telesat’s Lightspeed to its supply of low Earth orbiting options.

Lightspeed is a proposed constellation of almost 200 satellites which will start being launched in mid-2026. The agreement struck with Telesat is for Viasat to access Lightspeed’s maritime, aviation, government and enterprise connectivity. The deal will give Viasat global coverage of low-latency connectivity.

Viasat is already doing well with airline In Flight Connectivity, and this agreement – which is for multi-year access – was described by both parties as “substantial”, although did not elaborate the financials.

Ottawa-based Telesat has suffered a sharp decline in revenues from its geostationary fleet and is expecting significant revenue growth once Lightspeed is operational. Telesat says it already had a C$600 million (€386.7m) backlog for Lightspeed contracts. This deal with Viasat will add to that backlog.

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Categories: Articles, Broadband, Satellite

Tags: lightspeed, Viasat