Having closed the funding required to launch its Lightspeed Ka-band Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite constellation, Telesat, a longtime geostationary satellite operator, is eyeing the second half of 2026 for its first launch of LEO satellites. “I wish it were tomorrow,” Telesat president and CEO Dan Goldberg admitted during a keynote at the SATELLITE 2025 conference and exhibition in Washington D.C., citing the “massive, surging demand for high-quality, affordable, resilient, secure low-latency broadband connectivity”.
“The technology is ready, customers are ready and I couldn’t be more excited about moving it forward,” Goldberg said. Aviation is obviously among the sectors which will be served by Lightspeed. And so Runway Girl Network sat down with Telesat vice president, aviation Philippe Schleret at the show to understand how the Canadian company is preparing to serve the aviation market with Lightspeed.
RGN: Just as the show opened, Telesat announced it has selected QEST to develop an aero Flat Panel Antenna (FPA) for Lightspeed. Talk to me a little bit about what you’re looking for right now in an aero antenna as you prepare for the introduction of Lightspeed service in 2027.
Schleret: I think, from our perspective, when working with channel partners for the terminal and any aspect of the constellation, the name of the game is flexibility. So our reference terminal to start is the ThinKom Solutions Ka2517 VICTS. And you know, we also looked at other antennas that exist on the market, Ka-band obviously, that are compatible with the Telesat Lightspeed constellation.
So, for the next generation, in terms of an ESA [electronically steered antenna], we’re taking also this kind of open architecture approach [and asked] is there a good solution that we can help bring to the market. And we believe from that perspective QEST is interesting from several aspects. One is the very low power consumption; that’s a differentiator from the other ESA antennas that are out today on the market.
The second aspect is [QEST’s hardware is] pretty high performance. Obviously it can be sized in different form factors. But we are expecting that a commercial aviation ESA based on QEST technology will go over gigabits per second. So these are two aspects with QEST.
That said, as we work with our channel partners, if they select an ESA antenna that is compatible with our constellation and we see a good case to certify that ESA antenna, then we will put it on the path for certification so that our channel partner can use it with Telesat Lightspeed.
RGN: Viasat told us recently it believes its gimbaled antenna is going to be able to support Lightspeed. And of course you guys are also in advanced talks with Viasat over a potential Lightspeed capacity arrangement. Can you discuss whether gimbled antennas can support Lightspeed?
Schleret: I think that speaks to the performance of the antennas and the constellation. When we look at existing antennas in Ka, the [Viasat] GM-40 is one good example of an antenna where we looked at the characteristics and you know, we’re confident that it is compatible with the constellation, subject to final certification process.
RGN: If Viasat finalizes a deal with Telesat for Lightspeed capacity, it would be able to deliver multi-orbit inflight connectivity to airlines. But is there room in the market for just GEO-specific inflight connectivity anymore or do you think that is considered now a legacy sort of offering?
Schleret: Well, I think there is obviously a transition phase, right… It is at this point pretty clear that the future of inflight connectivity is going toward the LEOs, right. So you know whether there is a transition that goes through multi-orbits, multi-network I think is a more fair way to to put it, the general direction — and obviously everything goes fairly slow in this market — but the the general direction is the future of inflight connectivity is going to be based on LEO communications.
RGN: A number of stakeholders like that idea of LEO-LEO IFC with effectively Telesat Lightspeed and Eutelsat OneWeb sitting side by side atop a fuselage. But also Project Kuiper, is of course kind of in stealth mode. And there is some question about whether Amazon will vacuum up aero business before Lightspeed is available in 2027. Is that any kind of concern at this point? Is there plenty of business to go around? Where do you sit when the Project Kuiper narrative comes into play?
Schleret: From our standpoint, we’re focused on bringing the right solution with our partners that the airlines are looking for. I think we have tremendous feedback from the airlines so [we’re] not worried about our timing at this point. We’re focused on obviously making the constellation and bringing it in service within the timeline that we’ve stated. And that’s really I think what matters.
But yeah, you were talking about those various solutions. Flexibility in terms of the user terminal [is important]. But flexibility also for us goes into the way we address the market with our channel partner in the sense that what we bring to the channel partner is a pool of global capacity. And then they can manage that pool by themselves… So in effect they have, you know if you want, a piece of our constellation.
What does it mean for the airline? That means that compared to someone who would bring a subscription, then channels would be reselling just the same subscription; that doesn’t bring much value to the airline. Here we bring that pool of capacity and you can have one channel bringing a Lightspeed-only solution, another one bringing a multi-orbit, another one a multi-network. They can make their own plan. They can integrate it the way they feel is best suited for that specific airline. So they have the control on how they bring it. They have the control of the subscription plan. Obviously we’re working hand in hand with them so that we make sure they bring the right quality of experience in the end to the airline. But I think from an airline perspective that means that they can get our satellite speed in multiple flavors.
RGN: Eutelsat Oneweb has faced a little bit of criticism for not having optical inter-satellite links. Of course that’s not going to be an issue with Lightspeed and is a big value proposition around Lightspeed. Do you feel that when Lightspeed comes online that the story shifts again as airlines say, we understand now the value of those optical inter-satellite links? Will those links make a meaningful difference to the passenger experience? Or, when we’re talking about aero specifically, is it irrelevant whether it’s ferried down to a gateway or, or via the links? Is that a talking point right now in aero?
Schleret: It is very much. The first basic advantage is that means there is no hole, right? If you’re in the middle of the Pacific Ocean without inter-satellite links, you cannot land the signal in the ocean. But it really goes much further. And that’s linked also with our concept of a global pool of capacity for a channel in the sense that … an airline can leave from New York and go all the way to Sydney and frankly have the choice: do you want to always optimize for latency and then go to the closest landing station? Or do you want to just always go back to the country of origin and just use the inter-satellite link all the way throughout the route? An inter-satellite link, the characteristic of optical communication, is that it’s … faster actually than if you are putting a terrestrial backhaul. So, to that extent, when you see implementations that today bring back the traffic from different landing stations via terrestrial, at that point why do that if it’s going to be actually longer to do it terrestrially?
RGN: I wonder what it ultimately means for content licensing arrangements. Sometimes airlines are inhibited from, say, offering a certain football game in one part of the world or another. If Lightspeed as a mesh network is able to bring traffic back to its origin, then is that, effectively, an answer to some of these complex licensing arrangements, particularly whether we’re talking about live sports or live events? Could airlines perhaps offer more content if Telesat could guarantee that?
Schleret: It’s really I think a question for the channel partner because they are the ones who make those arrangements for the airlines.
RGN: L-band is a protected safety band in aviation and that looks like it’s going to stay for quite some time. That’s in the cockpit, with obviously Iridium and now Viasat/previously Immarsat satcom. But does Telesat see an opportunity to edge into cockpit communications via Lightspeed Ka?
Schleret: Telesat Lightspeed is focused on bringing reliability to the connectivity. That said, we’re more focused on passenger experience, but you know it goes beyond passenger, it’s also crew. It’s also operations of the aircraft. Now because we are a Layer 2 network, you can have actually separate circuits, Layer 2 circuits. You can have one for the passenger, one for the crew, one for operational data. And from that standpoint it is much more secure than if everything was multiplexed at the IP level.
RGN: There are some sustainability concerns about the sheer volume of satellites that are going up, over 7,000 already for Starlink alone, and obviously more coming including with Lightspeed. Is there anything that you guys are putting in place to try and assuage those fears?
Schleret: I think that’s where first, our experience as a satellite operator comes into play. So from our standpoint we have been and will continue being a good steward in space, but I think every player in that field needs to have the same attitude. Now we are at slightly higher orbits than some of the massive constellations. So you know, from our standpoint, at least, we are not in a congested attitude and still being in the LEO orbit.
RGN: Is there anything else that you’d like to highlight or underscore about your work in the aero market specifically or more broadly?
Schleret: I think for us the aviation market is very important whether it’s commercial, business or government aviation. Obviously out of the three, commercial aviation is the most important one… And currently, startup service is in Q4 2027; there’s a little bit of time but in that market, this is tomorrow morning. So there is a lot of of activity in the market with our channel partners and also with the airlines already. And I think it’s a very exciting time for us, and overall I think a very exciting time for the inflight connectivity market to see all these changes. And ultimately it will really bring the passenger from the frustrations they have in the past to a happy experience like they have at home or in the office. And that’s what they are asking for.
RGN: And just one final question: Eutelsat OneWeb has carved out 30% of its capacity for mobility. I know that we’re waiting to see what those channel partners are going to be. But does Telesat have yet an idea of what percent aero will constitute?
Schleret: Well, we don’t actually need to limit it. And one of the reasons is because we use the beam hopping on our constellation, which means we bring the capacity where it is needed, when it is needed. And we have a lot of capacity including in areas of high demand. So if we were much more limited then we would have to maybe partition to say, yeah, we need to give that much for one market to or limit it to that much for one market to make sure that there is capacity for other markets. So we don’t have that constraint. And I think it’s for me the success of the various markets that will dictate in the end how much of it is aviation versus other applications.
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Featured image credited to Telesat
