{mprestriction ids="1,2"}Global Eagle provides satellite broadband connectivity and connected entertainment services for maritime, particularly in the cruise sector where it also provides live television services, as well as aviation, enterprise and government markets. The deal with Telesat covers development of user terminals, service-offering design, marketing, and at-sea performance testing.

The collaboration is a result of review of planned non-geostationary-orbit (NGSO) constellations conducted by Global Eagle, which concluded that Telesat’s LEO system design would provide an optimal fit in terms of low latency, high throughput and global coverage (including polar regions).

Design and testing activities will focus on development for Telesat’s planned LEO constellation using the recently launched Phase 1 LEO satellite. The parties will focus on airline and large cruise ship applications in polar and high-latitude regions, and passenger use-cases globally that require sub-50 millisecond latency.

“Global Eagle uses Telesat geostationary satellites today to deliver high-performing wireless broadband to millions of airline and cruise passengers,” said Josh Marks, CEO of Global Eagle.

“We believe advanced LEO systems like Telesat’s can offer important advantages for aviation and cruise markets, including consistent global coverage, very low latency, and gigabit connections.”

“Telesat’s open architecture can provide Global Eagle’s customers with an easy upgrade path to add LEO capacity to existing GEO systems, avoiding technological or economic lock-in to legacy technologies. We can also bring new technologies to our customers more quickly building on our open architecture. Global Eagle is very excited about this collaboration and eager to begin testing on Telesat’s Phase 1 LEO satellite.”{/mprestriction}