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Telesat and SatPort Infrastructure sign global build-to-suit agreement to expand Telesat Lightspeed ground network

Telesat LEO and SatPort Infrastructure, a leading carrier-neutral ground infrastructure platform provider backed by global investment firm EQT, announced today a global build-to-suit Master Services Agreement (MSA) to develop, build and host certain landing stations to support the Telesat Lightspeed constellation.

Telesat Lightspeed is an advanced low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite network being designed to deliver secure, high-capacity, fiber-like broadband connectivity worldwide. Under the MSA, SatPort, which specializes in build-to-suit teleport and gateway solutions for LEO, MEO and GEO constellations, will deliver ground infrastructure that connects the Telesat Lightspeed constellation to the world’s terrestrial networks.

The agreement gives Telesat a capital-efficient, rapidly scalable path to expand its ground segment worldwide, and establishes SatPort as a non-exclusive strategic partner for one of the most advanced enterprise- and defence-grade LEO networks. The MSA is a framework agreement for how SatPort can provide multiple landing stations across the globe that are built to Telesat’s design specs, converting ground-segment capital expenditure into predictable operating costs.

SatPort’s build-to-suit model is designed to meet the sovereign and in-country data-landing requirements that increasingly govern satellite connectivity while ensuring Telesat retains ownership, control and operations of all network elements.

“Telesat Lightspeed is exactly the kind of mission-critical network SatPort was built to serve.  By delivering ground infrastructure to a common standard, anywhere in the world, Telesat achieves capital efficiency and a scalable framework for deploying ground infrastructure,” said Joe Spytek, Chief Executive Officer, SatPort Infrastructure. “This is a landmark moment for how ground segment will be built in the LEO era – multi-tenant, carrier-neutral, and capital-efficient. SatPort is singularly focused on delivering safe, reliable, and scalable ground infrastructure, so satellite operators can trust their mission-critical terrestrial expansions to dedicated experts and focus entirely on space.”

“A globally distributed landing station network is essential to delivering the low-latency, secure connectivity our enterprise and government customers expect from Telesat Lightspeed,” said Asit Tandon, Telesat’s Chief Network and Information Officer. “SatPort’s build-to-suit hosting model, backed by stringent service level commitments that are aligned with our resiliency requirements, gives us the agility to rapidly deploy new sites as needed to meet customer demand and address evolving regulatory or sovereignty requirements.”