Press Releases

Testing campaign confirms Telesat LEO provides superior near fibre-like performance for high-end satellite services

MADRID, SPAIN AND OTTAWA, CANADA, JUNE 04, 2020 –Telesat, a leading global satellite operator, and Telefónica International Wholesale Services (TIWS), the international wholesale services provider of the Telefónica Group, one of the world’s largest telecommunications companies, have completed live in-orbit testing across a wide range of applications on Telesat’s Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Phase 1 satellite.

With a mission to increase agility and improve operational efficiencies, TIWS partnered with Telesat on a rigorous testing campaign to explore the performance and feasibility of leveraging LEO satellites for high-end services. Testing demonstrated that Telesat LEO could be a viable option for wireless backhaul and presents a substantial improvement in performance over geostationary orbit (GEO) links, without the use of compression or TCP acceleration techniques that are typically required in 650ms latency GEO environments.

Applications tested over Telesat LEO resulted in observed round trip latency of 30-60 msec without any packet loss.  Test scenarios included:

• High definition video streaming, without interruption.
• Video conference with teams, demonstrating consistent fluidity of movement and voice transmission with user experience matching terrestrial and cellular connections.
• Remote desktop connection to seamlessly manage a remote computer.
• VPN connection without any delay or outages.
• FTP encrypted file transfers of 2 GB in both directions.
• IPSec tunnel encryption with no reduction in the performance of the link.

“As we plan, design and build our offerings to provide best-in-class connectivity for our customers, we are eager to explore how cutting-edge technologies like Telesat LEO can integrate with our global connectivity infrastructure,” explains Gustavo Arditti, TIWS Satellite Business Unit Director.  “Across every application tested, Telesat LEO delivered an outstanding performance, with significant improvements over what we can achieve via GEO satellites today.”

“The ability to demonstrate fibre-like performance via satellite across a number of applications that perform poorly on GEO satellite backhaul is a testament to the capabilities of our Telesat LEO network,” stated Erwin Hudson, Vice President, Telesat LEO. “With its high-throughput links, ultra-low latency, and disruptive economics, Telesat LEO offers an unparalleled value proposition to expand the reach of 4G and 5G networks.”

About Telesat

Backed by a legacy of engineering excellence, reliability and industry-leading customer service, Telesat has grown to be one of the largest and most successful global satellite operators. Telesat works collaboratively with its customers to deliver critical connectivity solutions that tackle the world’s most complex communications challenges, providing powerful advantages that improve their operations and drive growth. Telesat LEO, our Low Earth Orbit network scheduled to begin service in 2022, will revolutionize global broadband connectivity by delivering a combination of high capacity, security, resiliency and affordability with ultra-low latency and fiber-like speeds.

Privately held and headquartered in Ottawa, Canada with offices and facilities around the world, Telesat’s principal shareholders are Canada’s Public Sector Pension Investment Board and Loral Space & Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: LORL). For more information, visit www.telesat.com.

About Telefónica

Telefónica is one of the largest telecommunications companies in the world by market capitalization and number of customers with a comprehensive offering and quality of connectivity that is delivered over world class fixed, mobile and broadband networks. The company has a significant presence in 14 countries in Europe and Latin America and over 344 million accesses. Telefónica is a 100% listed company and its shares are traded on the Spanish Stock Market and on those in New York and Lima.

Telefónica International Wholesale Services (TIWS) is the Telefónica Group company which offers international services and first-class platforms to multinational companies, wholesale, fixed and mobile carriers, OTTs, service providers and aggregators.  Offering a global footprint. TIWS provides its customers with high quality connectivity, digital platforms and a wide range of innovative solutions. Its service portfolio includes Voice & UCC, Networking, Mobile, Satellite, Cloud, Security and IoT & Big Data.

Forward-Looking Statements Safe Harbor

This news release contains statements that are not based on historical fact and are ”forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. When used in this news release, the words “could”, “can”, “offers”, “expand”, “scheduled” and “will”, or other variations of these words or other similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements and information. Actual results may differ materially from the expectations expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements as a result of known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Detailed information about some of the known risks and uncertainties is included in the “Risk Factors” sections of Telesat Canada’s Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2019 and in Telesat Canada’s Quarterly Report on Form 6-K for the quarter ending March 31, 2020, both of which can be obtained from the SEC website.

Known risks and uncertainties include but are not limited to: risks associated with operating satellites and providing satellite services, including satellite construction or launch delays, launch failures, in-orbit failures or impaired satellite performance, the impact of  COVID-19  on Telesat’s business and the economic environment, the ability to successfully deploy an advanced global LEO satellite constellation, the availability of government and/or other funding for the LEO satellite constellation, the receipt of proceeds in relation to the re-allocation of C-band spectrum, volatility in exchange rates, the ability to expand our existing satellite utilization and risks associated with domestic and foreign government regulation. The foregoing list of important factors is not exhaustive. The information contained in this news release reflects Telesat’s beliefs, assumptions, intentions, plans and expectations as of the date of this news release. Except as required by law, Telesat disclaims any obligation or undertaking to update or revise the information herein.

Media contacts:

Lynette Simmons
Telesat
+1.613.748.8729

Gustavo Arditti
Satellite Business Unit – Director
Telefónica International Wholesale Services
T +56 (2) 2691 4487
gustavo.arditti@telefonica.com