Abstract Earth view from space with fiber optic cables rising from major cities. (World Map Courtesy... [+] of NASA: https://visibleearth.nasa.gov/view.php?id=55167) SpaceX's Starlink constellation has Canadian competition. Satellite communications firm Telesat is working on its own low-Earth orbit constellation -- and that is not the only other company competing in this growing playing field. Telesat's constellation was recently highlighted in Canada's long-awaited space strategy. The Canadian Space Agency said the global constellation will give "access to high-speed broadband Internet globally, including rural and remote areas of Canada." The far north of Canada faces many of the same challenges as areas of Africa and Asia, all of which are far from cities and at times face difficulties in getting online. "We have our own digital divide challenges in Canada, and for a Canadian company to take a global lead and move forward with a state of the art new satellite constellation ... it's a good thing," said Telesat CEO Dan Goldberg in an interview, adding that it potentially means a lot of jobs for Canadians. It's also an interesting time for Telesat, which reported revenues of just over $900 million CDN (roughly $672 million USD) for the year ending December 31, 2018. While that's a lot of money for Canada, it's not much compared to the deep pockets of SpaceX and its billionaire founder Elon Musk. But Goldberg expressed confidence that Telesat's experience would allow it to compete in what surely will be a crowded satellite market in the 2020s. SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California. There isn't much known about Starlink beyond the regulatory findings, but those show that SpaceX hopes to have nearly 12,000 satellites in orbit by the mid-2020s. Last year, the company launched some prototypes (Tintin A and B). The company plans to use Starlink to make broadband more widely available to rural areas, as well as to use the profits to fund plans to go to Mars, according to SpaceNews. Telesat's proposed customers for its network would be mobile network operators and telephone companies that need better connections, broadband connectivity to airlines for their customers, government transport vehicles as well as the maritime market (including transport ships and "superyachts".) Once ready in the 2022 timeframe, the low-Earth orbit constellation is expected to add significant revenue to Telesat's bottom line. These two operators, naturally, won't be alone in the satellite network. Joined by other providers such as OneWeb, these companies are all hopping onto the small satellite trend that, thanks to the miniaturization of computer technology, allows for more power packed into a smaller space. This means that several smaller satellites can replace the more traditional large ones, allowing for better coverage (with more satellites) at lower cost. An illustration of larger satellites orbiting Earth. In latter years, CubeSats and small satellites... [+] have become more popular. But this competition does come with complexity, said Nathan de Ruiter, managing director of Euroconsult Canada. SpaceX's Starlink is operating in the ku-band, the traditional frequency of geostationary satellites -- which means the company will need to be careful of interference. (Telesat's is in the ka-band, so no problems in that realm are anticipated.) While Telesat has five decades of satellite experience behind it, SpaceX's network will be larger and more funding will be available. De Ruiter's biggest question right now is the ground terminals that will be used for these networks. "As you can imagine, these satellites are moving," he said. "Instead of having a fixed ground terminal with one signal, there are continuously moving satellites. Each time, the ground terminal needs to pick up the next satellite and there needs to be handovers between each one." Such a ground terminal might cost about $500 USD, which is a lot of money in a place such as rural Africa -- even if an entire community shares the cost, De Ruiter said. There also is the question of how to maintain the terminal and to upgrade it as the satellite network is upgraded. OneWeb has also been active in Internet connectivity, and in late February, successfully launched six satellites into orbit -- making it the second company (after SpaceX) to put satellites into space. As customers decide which company to go with, those who are ready first may have that advantage -- but it depends on other factors such as coverage and throughput, De Ruiter added.
Canadian company Telesat is being seen as a rival to Elon Musk's SpaceX as both race to create low-Earth orbit satellite constellations that will bring broadband internet coverage to underserved areas of the world. Telesat is targeting rural Canada as well as the global market, and aims to improve connections for mobile network operators and telcos, and enhance broadband connectivity for the airline and maritime industries among others. The company reported revenues of slightly more than CAD900m (around $672m) in 2018.