OneWeb announced yesterday that it had added Mississauga headquartered Galaxy Broadband as a partner for its low Earth Orbit (LEO) telecommunication constellation to serve Canada and the Arctic.
The news comes at a time when OneWeb, Telesat and SpaceX are all ramping up their efforts to either partner or sign-up customers for their respective LEO telecommunication constellations offerings.
SpaceX this week began launching an updated version of its Starlink constellation satellites that are all equipped with intra-satellite laser communications designed in-part to facilitate communications in remote regions like the Arctic where they don’t have ground stations.
Meanwhile Telesat has been busy this year securing funding from the federal, Quebec and Ontario governments along with an upcoming initial public offering which will enable the company to proceed with its “$6.5B” LEO satellite constellation.
OneWeb has resumed launching satellites in large batches and recently confirmed in an interview with SpaceQ that they are still targeting commercial rollout in Canada’s northern regions this November.
With respect to the deal with Galaxy Broadband, a press release stated that “The partnership will enable a fibre-like experience to benefit end users, offering internet access no matter where users are.”
“OneWeb’s partnership with Galaxy will focus on expanding bandwidth for a variety of industries such as Mining, Oil and Gas, Utilities, Construction, and Community Aggregation which will bring a range of benefits including improving corporate efficiency, health and safety requirements, asset tracking, environmental monitoring and new operational applications while also helping remote workers better connect with their families and loved ones back home. Utilizing the power of OneWeb’s network, Galaxy can augment its existing SDWAN of GEO satellite or Microwave connectivity by adding low latency service.”
Eric Gillenwater, OneWeb’s VP & Business Head, Global Carrier and Enterprise said “OneWeb’s network design uniquely offers Canada large amounts of capacity coupled with high-speed, low-latency services that will serve to bridge the digital divide across the country – and our services will start by the end of this year. I’m delighted to partner with the Galaxy team. They are satellite pioneers and experts in delivering effective communication solutions and together we will be able to offer game-changing service across Canada and the Arctic.”
Galaxy Broadband’s Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer Rick Hodgkinson added “We are very excited by the many advantages that OneWeb’s LEO services will bring to our suite of services. With OneWeb’s low latency and QoS capability, our customers will have the quality connectivity necessary to deploy new software and systems to operate more efficiently in remote locations, expanding our existing bandwidth capability for the end user. OneWeb’s proven technology and focus on scalable solutions will allow us to have accessible internet access for anyone, anywhere in these regions.”