Telesat Retains Lightspeed Partner Model in Aero as Momentum Mounts

Below are a few excerpts from Runway Girl Network's November 18th article discussing Telesat's partner model and flexible IFC offering featuring the ThinAir Ka2517.

Canadian geostationary satellite operator Telesat intends to stay the course with its partnership model when addressing the aviation market with its forthcoming Lightspeed Ka-band Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite network.

That architecture opens up an opportunity for service providers to offer Ka-band LEO-specific IFC to airlines. But Telesat is staying flexible, and happy to support multi-orbit IFC solutions that include a GEO satellite component.

For instance, the firm has conducted a lot of testing with ThinKom Solutions’ multi-orbit, multi-constellation Ka2517 VICTS antenna, an agnostic piece of hardware that can, for instance, support GEO IFC now — Viasat Global Xpress, SES Open Orbits, Eutelsat, Thales [FlytLIVE], Turksat, Yahsat, AsiaSat, and HYLAS — plus Viasat/Inmarsat HEO, SES Open Orbits’ O3b/mPOWER MEO, and then add the Lightspeed LEO layer later.

“The advantage of the Ka2517 is it can work with our [Lightspeed] constellation but it can work also on existing networks. So that gives a lot of flexibility for the service provider, gives flexibility for the airlines also in terms of choices rather than having a solution that is unique to a constellation,” noted Schleret [Telesat VP, Aviation].

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Read the full article here.