Page 67 - SAMENA Trends - November-December 2021

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Astranis Signs Deal to Bring Satellite Internet to 3 million People in Peru by

2023

Astranis, a San Francisco-based company race to meet a growing global demand prototype in 2018 and is now finishing
with an alternative approach to providing for data – including SpaceX’s Starlink, work on its first commercial satellite, set
internet access from satellites, announced British-owned OneWeb, Amazon’s Project to launch next year and provide service
a deal that would bring broadband to Kuiper, satellite-to-smartphone specialist to Alaska. Gedmark emphasized that the
millions of people in Peru in two years. AST SpaceMobile, Lockheed Martin’s world’s “demand for data is effectively
The company’s agreement, which it partnership with start-up Omnispace unlimited,” creating far more demand
says is worth over $90 million, with Latin and Canadian satellite operator Telesat’s than there is supply from satellite internet
American service provider Grupo Andesat Lightspeed. But unlike the low Earth services. Astranis sees this Andesat deal
will see Astranis deploy one of its small orbit focus of other companies, Astranis’ “as a model we can replicated across Latin
form factor satellites specifically for approach features a small form factor America,” Gedmark said. “Giving the people
Peru. “This first satellite, which will go satellite combined with proprietary of these countries their very own satellite
into service in 2023, will light up about technology and placed in geosynchronous assets for the very first time, and with that
1,000 cell sites and provide broadband orbit, the operating location of existing comes a huge amount of capacity at very
internet to approximately three million players like Viasat. Astranis launched a low cost,” Gedmark said.
people across the country,” Astranis CEO
John Gedmark told CNBC. “This is the
first time that the people of Peru have
had their very own dedicated satellite,”
Gedmark added. The Astranis deal with
Andesat includes an option for a second
satellite under the same terms, which
Gedmark noted could be deployed as
early as 2024. Gedmark emphasized that
Astranis’ satellite will deliver broadband
service to many locations for the first
time, and upgrade current 2G service in
others. “This capacity is primarily used
for cell backhaul – meaning our satellite
is being used to connect cell towers so
individual users in Peru are going to be
getting 4G broadband internet on their cell
phones,” Gedmark said. “It’s a total game
changer.” Astranis’ is one of a number
of next generation broadband satellite
systems in development, as companies

Starlink Set to Launch Broadband Services

in Lithuania

Lithuania’s Minister of Transport and Communications, Marius Skuodis,
has revealed that Starlink satellite broadband services are set to be
launched for consumers in early 2022. The service, which is backed by
Elon Musk’s SpaceX venture, will initially provide speeds of up to 150Mbps,
but this will increase in the near future, according to the Minister. ‘We aim
to create opportunities for residents and businesses in Lithuania to use
innovative, state-of-the-art solutions, to have the widest possible range of
services and the widest possible choice,’ Skuodis said in a press release,
adding: ‘The satellite broadband provided by Starlink is also particularly
valuable in regions where there is a lack of terrestrial infrastructure and no
mobile or fiber connection.’

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