Constellation Technologies & Operations is looking to collaborate with telecom operators to provide 5G internet services from space.

This is the greatest disruption that the industry is seeing since the telegraph, as the companies work on opening space as the next frontier for communications.
Constellation Technologies & Operations is looking to collaborate with telecom operators to provide 5G internet services from space.

This is the greatest disruption that the industry is seeing since the telegraph, as the companies work on opening space as the next frontier for communications. A French startup named Constellation hopes to take its share by repurposing 5G tech to offer a Starlink-like satellite broadband that utilizes telecoms' existing assets.

It's called Constellation Technologies and Operations, to use its full name. The business will be launching a constellation of satellites in very low Earth orbit and will be working directly with telecom operators to provide high-speed internet access via small (but stationary) user terminals.

The company would do this by repurposing terrestrial 5G spectrum for space-based connectivity — cellular signals can actually reach to and from orbit if handled right. Constellation would provide the capacity and terminals but the customer would pay the telecom company for the service, with that subscription revenue shared.

Constellation founder and CEO Charles Delfieux noted in a recent interview that the industry is at turning point: "For the first time in the history of space and telecommunication, we are basically witnessing a convergence between space and terrestrial connectivity in terms of performance and price," he said. "That convergence is basically making those sought-after, cost-effective solutions to deliver connectivity as something that is completely achievable.".

An engineer by training, Delfieux spent most of his career working at the World Bank, where he was in charge of structuring and financing large infrastructure projects in emerging countries. He personally saw firsthand how access to stable Internet remains a challenge for millions of people. With the support of the first investor, he left the World Bank to start Constellation in 2022.

"If you want to really achieve ubiquitous, universal connectivity," he said, "the only way to do that is to leverage space technologies.".

He admits that to date, the most successful example is Starlink, whose performance and price is getting closer and closer to what terrestrial solutions provide. But Delfieux said that the Constellation team eventually realized that the most promising business plan is to essentially work with, not against, terrestrial telecom operators. By doing so, he sees massive opportunity to provide universal internet access regardless of location or existing connectivity.

Though some technological innovations are built into the plan, among them is a satellite form factor capable of operating in very low Earth orbit, about 375 kilometers, which Delfieux says will boost the performance of the system. It will also repurpose part of the 5G spectrum allocated to the telecom operators on the ground for its space communications service.

By doing so, the startup will help telecoms monetize the full extent of their 5G networks— and more meaningfully compete with new entrants like SpaceX and Amazon's Kuiper.".

"It's established national, regional, traditional telecom operators, who see these very powerful, very influential players, new entrants in the telecommunication sector, who start operating a broadband constellation, who start delivering broadband services from space…they are more and more aiming at taking their own space within the telecommunication sector, in direct competition with established national and regional telecom operators. So it's a threat". We basically want to be the ones providing a telco-friendly solution for the telecom operator. So tomorrow they can compete with those new entrants."

Constellation also can embed the mass-produced, low-cost components already being produced in earth's atmosphere for the terrestrial communication networks inside the designs of its user terminals and satellite payloads to drive costs down, he added by using 5G spectrum.

This seed financing worth €9.3 million or $10.2 million will see the company accelerate its plans. The funding for the new round has come from Expansion Fund, Bpifrance, and another unnamed investor.

The company estimates that its business model will need a constellation of 1,500 satellites to offer global coverage-an ambitious number by any measure-with performance rates of 150 Mbps downlink and 50 Mbps uplink and latency below 30 ms.

It plans to launch a hosted payload into orbit by June 2025 and then will use it to do an end-to-end test of the service. Then, in the last quarter of 2026, two prototype satellites will be launched; four production satellites are planned for introduction the following year.

Blog
|
2024-10-14 17:25:25