Terrestar Solutions joins Equatys satellite network for phone coverage
Key points
- Terrestar Solutions, an Ottawa-based satellite company, has agreed to join Equatys, a global satellite network meant to let regular phones connect to satellites where there is no cell signal.
- Terrestar's planned low-orbit network, called CaStar, would link with Equatys so phones could move between the two, including when travelling abroad.
- Each company would keep owning and running its own satellites and customers. CaStar's ground stations would stay in Canada, and Canadian users' traffic would stay under Canadian law.
- Equatys was started by UAE space company Space42 and U.S. satellite firm Viasat, backed by up to $1 billion US.
- Terrestar has not said when CaStar will launch or when Canadian phones could use it.
The agreement was announced on Wednesday during a United Arab Emirates visit tied to talks with Prime Minister Mark Carney. It follows Carney’s September statement that Canada will diversify away from Starlink, and his later warning that relying on one supplier puts Canadians at risk. Canadian carriers still use Starlink for satellite texting today, including Rogers’ satellite roaming, which just expanded to Japan, Australia and New Zealand.
Terrestar describes itself as Canada’s only sovereign mobile-satellite operator. It was founded in 2008 by the Quebec group behind Fido and holds 40 MHz of Canadian satellite spectrum for phones and devices. It already runs a service called Strigo over an existing satellite. In 2023 it worked with Telus and Skylo on early smartphone-to-satellite trials in Canada.
