Telesat has selected
Thales Alenia Space as the prime contractor to manufacture the Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) constellation it is calling Lightspeed. The agreement between Telesat and Thales is worth $3 billion, and Telesat is investing about $5 billion total into the project, CEO Dan Goldberg said in a Tuesday press conference.
The deal marks a long-awaited announcement on the details of Telesat’s LEO constellation, its largest procurement ever, and a venture away from Geostationary Orbit (GEO) from the Canadian satellite operator.
“It is far and away the most advanced, capable Low-Earth Orbit satellite network ever conceived,” Goldberg said. “We’re calling it Lightspeed to capture the inherent speed advantages that our customers will have using this network for broadband connectivity.”