Satellite operator Telesat and pan-African tech group Liquid Intelligent Technologies has announced a strategic cooperation agreement to explore reciprocal go-to-market strategies to bring Telesat Lightspeed Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite services to Africa.

As part of the agreement, the companies will closely collaborate on the commercial and technical aspects of integrating the Telesat Lightspeed enterprise-grade, high-throughput, low-latency satellite network with Liquid’s global value-added services network.

According to the companies, this integration can enable the expansion of Liquid’s enterprise portfolio offerings, including next-generation cloud services, managed security services, business Wi-Fi and datacentre connectivity.

At the same time, Telesat will explore combining Liquid’s landing stations, Points of Presences (PoPs), site hosting, management services, and fibre network as part of its global terrestrial infrastructure that seamlessly integrates with the Telesat Lightspeed satellite network.

Glenn Katz, Telesat’s Chief Commercial Officer, said, “Liquid’s terrestrial infrastructure in Africa is second to none, from the largest fibre network spanning over 100,000 kilometers to state-of-the-art teleports and access to diverse points-of-presence within the continent. We’re eager to explore the synergies between both of our company’s offerings, with confidence that we will establish a ‘win-win’ for our organizations and the future of connectivity for Africa.”

Scott Mumford, Liquid Satellite Services CEO, added: “Telesat Lightspeed will be the world’s most advanced LEO network, delivering the enterprise-grade, fibre-like connectivity that Africa’s massively underserved market needs. Integrating ubiquitous, multi-gigabit per second links with guaranteed SLA’s from Telesat Lightspeed will enable Liquid to expand their award-winning services via an untethered network in the sky, and deliver expanded service offerings to our customers not possible through the current satellite-based offerings.”

The agreement opens the door for a collaborative approach to LEO terrestrial development. Moving forward, Telesat and Liquid Intelligent Technologies will work together to determine how each company’s industry-leading technologies can integrate with the other to better serve the African continent.