Monday, May 6, 2019

LeoSat announces $2 billion in commitments

LeoSat Enterprises, which is preparing to launch a new low-earth-orbit satellite constellation for delivering data services worldwide, signed more than US$2 billion in commercial agreements so far.

The company said these pre-launch agreements signal strong demand for LeoSat’s business backbone in space across a wide range of fast-growing data and mobility sectors including, Enterprise, Telecoms, Government, Maritime, Healthcare and Finance.


LeoSat has developed a unique system architecture – a space-based MPLS network - providing Gigabits of secure connectivity. The company said it can achieve lower latencies than fiber.

“Whilst the list of companies launching “build it and they will come” mega satellite constellations continues to grow, we believe that our commercial agreements valued at over US$2Billion clearly demonstrate LeoSat’s unique solution is more than a vision. LeoSat is solving an essential business need that not only resonates with our customers but has also attracted the firm backing of two leading satellite companies - SKY Perfect JSAT and Hispasat”, said Mark Rigolle, CEO of LeoSat Enterprises. Our most recent customer agreements include X2nSat, which has selected LeoSat’s laser-enabled data network to support the ever-expanding needs of the healthcare industry, and FMC GlobalSat, which provides seamless onshore and offshore network access that will enable enormous productivity and efficiency improvements over legacy satellite infrastructures.

LeoSat promises fast optical connections via low-earth-orbit

LeoSat Enterprises has been granted authority by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to provide NGSO (non-geostationary satellite orbit) services in the United States.

The start-up plans to deploy a unique new data network comprised of a constellation of up to 108 low-earth-orbit communications satellites to serve sectors such as enterprise-to-enterprise communications, telecommunications, oil & gas operations and maritime services with global premise-to-premise connectivity.

The LeoSat constellation will be distinguished by optical inter-satellite links, on-board processing, and polar orbits at an altitude five times closer to the Earth than medium earth orbit satellites and 25 times closer than geostationary orbit (“GSO”) satellites. LeoSat says its will be able to provide enterprise-grade, highly secure data transmissions with up to 1.2 Gbps of full-duplex connectivity per link (and 5.2 Gbps where needed), along with low latency of less than 20 ms. The high-throughput satellites will form a mesh network interconnected through inter-satellite laser links. The company projects that its optical backbone will be is approximately 1.5 times faster than terrestrial fiber networks.

LeoSat’s CEO, Mark Rigolle said, “Getting approval from the U.S. Federal Communications Commission – among the world’s most sophisticated radio frequency regulators – is an important milestone for LeoSat and recognizes that we have a unique solution for high-speed and ultra-secure enterprise connectivity. I am delighted by this significant step forward for LeoSat as we continue to make excellent progress on our journey to deliver the world’s first business backbone in space, opening-up new markets for data networking, telecoms, enterprise and government communications across the globe”.