Canada's Telesat is promoting Lightspeed as a temporary solution until its low Earth orbit (LEO) broadband constellation, IRIS², becomes operational in 2027. This is three years before Europe's multi-orbit network is scheduled to launch. "We believe there’s a great opportunity for the Government of Canada to work with the EU and its allied governments in Europe to leverage Lightspeed in advance of IRIS² being available,” Telesat CEO Dan Goldberg stated on September 15th at World Space Business Week in Paris. “And so that’s something that we’re very open to. I believe the Government of Canada is very open to that.”
IRIS² (Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity and Security by Satellite), a public-private partnership spearheaded by SES, Eutelsat, and Hispasat, plans a constellation exceeding 290 satellites, primarily in LEO. However, the $11 billion project faces skepticism regarding its cost-effectiveness, despite increasing demand fueled by Starlink's growth and upcoming Chinese constellations.
Goldberg highlighted Starlink's impact, stating it "has proven to be absolutely consequential and decisive” in conflicts like the Ukraine war, underscoring the need for such capabilities globally. Telesat sees a significant market for Lightspeed in supporting Canada's increased defense spending to meet NATO obligations and other governments seeking sovereign or allied LEO capabilities. He added, “Ideally they build it themselves, but these LEO constellations are expensive, they’re complicated and they take a long time to roll out,” “And so at least, I would say for the foreseeable future, there will be governments all around the world leveraging commercial LEO networks.” Telesat has also offered Lightspeed to the U.S. Department of Defense, including its $175 billion “Golden Dome” initiative.
A panel discussion included executives from geostationary orbit (GEO) operators, emphasizing the U.S.'s need for network diversification, despite its own LEO projects. Eutelsat CEO Jean-François Fallacher noted, “I think the geopolitical situation — and unfortunately the war we are seeing at our borders in Europe — have been showing also that warfare is changing,” “And I think our defense ministries have been realizing that civil … means are used now for military purposes. That’s what we see in Ukraine, and there is more and more interest in our assets, whether those are GEO or LEO.” Viasat CEO Mark Dankberg addressed the merging of civil and military domains, stating, “Clearly, there’s opportunity there to come up with more robust systems,” “The other thing I think that’s also becoming a big issue for national security perspective is there’s almost no boundary anymore between civil, civilian, commercial and defense targets. Some of the robustness that people need, or have always recognized that they need for military systems, is now going to be necessary on the commercial side.”
The decline in satellite video broadcasting, once a primary GEO revenue source, continues to affect legacy operators. Novaspace reports a 20% drop in wholesale video revenue over four years, to $4.4 billion. Goldberg acknowledged, “It faces meaningful, secular headwinds. There’s no hiding from that.” While Telesat's Canadian and U.S. direct-to-home customers still use GEO capacity, launching new broadcast satellites isn't currently justified. Fallacher noted the video decline is slower outside North America but necessitates strategic shifts. However, panelists agreed consumer broadband isn't a viable alternative due to Starlink's dominance and Project Kuiper's emergence. EchoStar's COO Paul Gaske explained that consumer broadband systems “eat a lot of capacity for the amount of capital you invest. So when we look at it today, we don’t see that growing.” He cited competition from LEO, regulatory pressures from terrestrial fiber subsidies, and competition from cellular operators offering fixed wireless services.
EchoStar recently transitioned to an “asset-light growth company” after selling spectrum to SpaceX and AT&T, providing limited details about its future plans at a September 15th press conference.