Telesat Holdings, ThinKom expand agreement for low earth orbit operations

Telesat and ThinKom Solutions announced an expanded development partnership to certify ThinKom’s ThinAir Ka2517 antenna for the Telesat Lightspeed Low Earth Orbit satellite network. The multi-year agreement calls for the organizations to cooperate on the integration and certification of the Ka2517 antenna with an airborne modem to enable communications across the Telesat Lightspeed Ka-band LEO network. Telesat estimates that its enterprise-class constellation, paired with the Ka2517 antenna, will deliver over 1 Gbps to the aircraft. Telesat Lightspeed can dynamically allocate multiple-Gbps of capacity to areas with high demand, such as congested airport hubs or busy flight routes. This level of connectivity enables robust gate-to-gate, real-time communications for a superior inflight connectivity experience. ThinKom and Telesat have been formally cooperating on terminal development since the 2021 signing of a Memorandum of Understanding- which included validating the Ka2517’s ability to seamlessly switch between satellites across multiple orbital planes. With the Telesat Lightspeed satellite manufacturing program now underway, satellite launches are scheduled to begin in 2026, with Ka2517 certification expected to be finalized before global service availability scheduled to commence in 2027.