8 Takeaways From Our SpaceX, Telsat

LEO Constellation Webcast

By Rachel Jewett | July 23, 2020

 BackhaulFuture-LookingMobile ConnectivityNorth America

A Starlink user terminal. Photo: SpaceX

Representatives from Telesat and SpaceX dug into their companies’ plans

for constellations in Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) and how they can provide

backhaul in Via Satellite’s Cell Backhaul Digital Week session  “The Low-

Latency Constellation Battle to Connect Rural North America” on

Thursday. 

The two systems differ in the markets they plan to tackle first, and their

approaches to vertical integration. But both Manik Vinnakota, Telesat’s

global director of Product and Commercial, and Jonathan Hofeller,

SpaceX’s vice president of Starlink and Commercial Sales agreed that LEO

constellations won’t cause the demise of the tower. Here are eight

takeaways from their conversation: 

1. Telesat is targeting 2022 launches; SpaceX has friends and family

trials underway

Telesat LEO has plans for 300 satellites, and aims to place 78 in orbit in

2022, and 220 more in 2023. The operator has performed 20 tests with

different operators and service providers including Telefonica. In addition,

Telesat has filed for an extension to build a constellation of up to 1,600

satellites to cater to future demand.

SpaceX is awaiting its 10th Starlink launch, at which point it will have 538

satellites deployed. Its goal is to reach 1,440 to start commercial service.

Hofeller said friends and family trials are underway, and SpaceX looks to
begin commercial service in the next couple of months in the northern

part of the United States, expanding across the world after. “By this time

next year we’ll do this broadcast over the Starlink network,” Hofeller

predicted. He also shared a target latency of 20 ms, which SpaceX hopes

to drive down to 10 ms. 

2. SpaceX shares anticipated update on ground segment 

Hofeller shared a photo of SpaceX’s user terminal, which is built in-house

(above). It’s about a 19-inch diameter phased array antenna. He also

revealed he has one set up at his own home, and it’s as easy to use as

SpaceX Founder Elon Musk says, no need to call an installation technician. 

“I have deployed one on my house, it’s very exciting to get one,” he said.

“The instructions are uber-easy. You plug it in, and you point it at the sky,

and a few seconds later you have internet. It’s truly remarkable.”

3. Operators stress their different target markets

SpaceX is primarily targeting the direct-to-consumer market but is also

speaking with various vertical markets including telcos. Hofeller said the

service compliments what telcos are doing in 5G, and will be most

effective in rural areas where it is too expensive to deploy fiber. “That’s

where our constellation shines, so we are looking forward to being a

partner with these telcos,” he said. 

Telesat, on the other hand, is targeting enterprise markets like mobility

and government, in addition to backhaul. Vinnakota sees backhaul use

cases with cell sites and community sites. Telsat plans to hit all enterprise

markets from the start, even those with varying requirements. “We want

to build a backhaul product that works for everyone,” Vinnakota said.

4. They have different views on vertical integration

Vinnakota said Telesat LEO will not be vertically integrated, and working

with partners is key to its strategy, both on the ground segment and on

the service side. Telesat is working with vendors on its ground segment

terminal, with a particular focus on Size Weight and Power (SWAP), and

also working with service providers to target different enterprise markets. 

“We work with service providers and we believe service providers in the

other markets add a lot of value. Customized backhaul for aviation,

maritime, cruise. They add the additional customization that is needed,”

he said. 

SpaceX, on the other hand, is building its own terminal and gateways. “The

beauty of being vertically integrated both on the user terminal, the

gateways and the satellite piece of it is that we are constantly updating

and improving the connection between those pieces of infrastructure,”

Hofeller said. 
5. Telesat won’t share a price point — yet 

Vinnakota was reticent to give a price point for Telesat LEO’s Mbps per

month, saying that it will be highly competitive with the best satellite

networks, and the price will vary by vertical.

6. SpaceX is ‘aggressively’ targeting inter-satellite links

“As soon as we can get inter-satellite links, I know that is something that

we want to do,” Hofeller said. “We have to make sure it’s cost effective in

order to provide it and implement into the constellation. That’s something

we are attacking internally and aggressively and it’s something that we

know will greatly enhance the system, both for consumers and enterprise

customers, and our government customers as well.”   

7. Neither see LEO constellations as a replacement for cell towers 

“Telesat LEO will not replace cell towers,”  Vinnakota said. “We will

compliment them. Going back to our backhaul focus, a lot of these small

cells may be [cut] off from fiber coverage and need a backhaul solution.” 

Hofeller agreed, and said Starlink will compliment Mobile Network

Operators (MNOs) and could factor into how MNOs look at regional

deployment in the future:  “As we get more and more dense into

connectivity, that is not our sweet spot. While we can provide backhaul in
remote regions .. our focus is on rural low-density populations as a

compliment to the MNOs. I don’t see this as an end to the big towers.” 

8. Both Telesat and SpaceX see regulatory access as their issue to tackle

Hofeller said SpaceX is working to make it as easy on telcos as possible,

and has made progress toward regulatory access in multiple countries. 

Telesat has market access in the U.S. and Canada, and will get regulatory

authorization to serve a telco in its country, wherever that is:  “From a

backhaul perspective, we are aware that traffic needs to land locally for

data privacy or for other security reasons, for mobile operators especially.

Our network is designed to be able to do that — local handoff, and local

landing of traffic. Telcos don’t have to do anything, it’s on us,” Vinnakota

said.