Telesat Signs Long Term Contract with Bell Canada for Telstar 19 VANTAGE HTS Capacity

September 15, 2017

Telesat has signed a 15-year contract for substantially all of the HTS spot beam capacity over northern Canada on Telesat’s new Telstar 19 VANTAGE satellite. Bell Canada subsidiary Northwestel will use the capacity to dramatically enhance broadband connectivity for communities in Nunavut, Canada’s northernmost territory.

Telstar 19 VANTAGE is currently being built by Space Systems Loral in Palo Alto, CA. The satellite is scheduled to launch in the second quarter of 2018 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and will be co-located with Telesat’s Telstar 14R satellite at 63 degrees West, a prime orbital slot for coverage of the Americas. Once operational, Telstar 19 VANTAGE will have six distinct coverages over the Americas and North Atlantic and the most capacity in Gbps of any satellite in Telesat’s fleet.

The long-term agreement with Bell Canada marks another major pre-sale of HTS capacity on Telstar 19 VANTAGE. As previously announced, Hughes Network Systems LLC has contracted for all the South American high throughput Ka-band capacity of Telstar 19 VANTAGE. Combining Bell Canada’s long term contract with other customer commitments, Telesat has now signed long term contracts for the entire Ka-band HTS capacity on Telstar 19 VANTAGE over Northern Canada.

“The significant investment Telesat has made in Telstar 19 VANTAGE is the latest example of our decades-long record of committing major capital resources to bring advanced communications to Canada and its Northern communities” said Michele Beck, Telesat’s Vice President North American Sales. “Telesat is pleased to have concluded this important agreement with Bell Canada that will bring twenty times more capacity to the region using our new powerful, state-of-the-art satellite.”     

“Our agreement with Telesat is another example of Bell’s commitment to work closely with our country’s technology leaders to roll out innovative communications network solutions that benefit Canadians everywhere,” said Stephen Howe, Bell’s Chief Technology Officer. “We look forward to delivering enhanced broadband services to Canada’s North with the new Telstar 19 VANTAGE satellite.”

Northwestel plans to implement new and improved broadband for communities across Nunavut, one of the most difficult regions in the world to serve, beginning in the second half of 2018.

“Making high-quality broadband services available to remote communities across the vast expanse of Canada’s north is a huge challenge,” said Curtis Shaw, Chief Operating Officer, Northwestel. “Northwestel looks forward to utilizing the power and capabilities of Telesat’s new state-of-the-art Telstar 19 VANTAGE satellite as part of our commitment to connect 25 communities across Nunavut to faster and more reliable broadband over the next two years.”