Telesat announced today that it has concluded an agreement with Loral Space & Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: LORL) to acquire the Canadian payload of the ViaSat-1 satellite. Telesat will assume the fifteen year contract Barrett Xplore Inc. has previously entered into for this payload to provide broadband services in rural Canada.
ViaSat-1 is being built by Space Systems/Loral and is expected to be launched in the summer of this year. Its Canadian payload will offer a significant increase in broadband capacity over existing satellites and expand the quality and availability of high-speed communications services to Canadians.
“The capabilities of ViaSat-1 are ideally suited to meet the strong demand for broadband services to rural Canada,” said Dan Goldberg, Telesat’s President and CEO. “Barrett Xplore has been a pioneer and leader in bringing affordable, reliable and high quality broadband services to rural Canadians, and Telesat is pleased to support them with our investment in ViaSat-1, enabling these communities to realize even greater benefits from advanced broadband services.”