An artistic view of Kipp, Kepler’s first Ku-band LEO satellite. Photo Credit: Kepler

Kepler Communications and Cobham formed a strategic partnership aimed at eliminating barriers to the adoption of data services over Kepler’s Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) network. Under the new arrangement, organizations can experience a fully managed trial of the service anywhere

The Kepler-Cobham partnership centers on three core principles: shifting equipment costs to a monthly operational fee from a more traditional one-time capital expense; embedding installation, technical support, terminal maintenance, warehousing, and transport services into the monthly fees with future capabilities for add-on services; and exchanging technical know-how to improve the delivery of LEO wideband services going forward.

“Proven, reliable ground segment is a critical piece for delivering wideband services from LEO,” said Jeffrey Osborne, Co-founder and VP of Business Development at Kepler. “The cost of today’s tracking antennas as well as the complexity of coordinating setup, installation, and support are understandable roadblocks for those wishing to test drive our Global Data Service. At Kepler, our goal is to deliver the most frictionless customer experience possible so that anyone with a potential use case for this groundbreaking capability can simply say ‘yes’ and keep their focus on the really important elements of their application. Our partnership with Cobham enables us to create precisely that experience where we can scalably execute demonstrations anywhere on the planet all for a manageable monthly OPEX fee that includes hardware, setup, support, and airtime,” said Osborne.