Global Eagle Entertainment and Telesat announced a plan in 2018 to collaborate on Telesat’s LEO system to serve aviation and maritime demand. Photo Credit: Global Eagle Entertainment

Satellite service provider Anuvu has signed a capacity increase with Telesat for additional Ka-band capacity over the Southeastern U.S., the Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico, and Central America. Anuvu announced Monday it will add approximately 10 gigabits of Ka-band capacity from Telesat Geostationary Orbit (GEO) satellites starting next month, as part of what the company is calling a “bridge to LEO.” 

Anuvu, formerly Global Eagle, plans to use Telesat’s Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) network when it is available, and completed a network simulation last year. This agreement means customers can now begin using terminals and capacity, which are forward-compatible with Telesat’s Lightspeed LEO network. 

The mobility service provider is preparing for a hybrid network combining its current GEO Ka-band, Ku-band, and C-band capacity, with Lightspeed LEO capacity, and its own micro-GEO satellites, which Astranis is building. 

“We are revolutionizing mobile connectivity with an open-architecture, hybrid network model that will seamlessly integrate LEO and GEO satellite capability using the Anuvu constellation operating system,” said Mike Pigott, executive vice president of Connectivity for Anuvu. “Anuvu’s partnership model delivers our customers an integrated, flexible and cutting-edge solution to meet ever-increasing end user demand. It is a simple bridge from the best satellite technology today, to the best of the future.” 

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.