Telesat and Liquid Intelligent Technologies ink strategic cooperation agreement for Telesat Lightspeed services in Africa


OTTAWA and EBENE, Mauritius, Feb. 28, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Telesat (NASDAQ and TSX: TSAT), one of the world’s largest and most innovative satellite operators, and Liquid Intelligent Technologies, a business of Cassava Technologies, a leading pan-African technology group, today 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. This integration can enable the expansion of Liquid’s enterprise portfolio offerings, including next-generation cloud services, managed security services, business Wi-Fi and data center 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.

“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,” said Glenn Katz, Telesat’s Chief Commercial Officer. “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.”

“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,” said Scott Mumford, Liquid Satellite Services CEO. “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.

About Liquid Intelligent Technologies

Liquid Intelligent Technologies is a business of Cassava Technologies, a pan-African technology group present in more than 20 countries, mainly in sub-Saharan Africa. Liquid has firmly established itself as the leading provider of pan-African digital infrastructure with an extensive fibre broadband network covering over 100,000 km. Liquid Intelligent Technologies is also leveraging its digital network to provide Cloud and Cyber Security solutions through strategic partnerships with leading global players. Liquid Intelligent Technologies is a comprehensive technology solutions group that provides customised digital solutions to public and private sector enterprises and SMEs across the continent. https://www.liquid.tech/

About Telesat

Backed by a legacy of engineering excellence, reliability and industry-leading customer service, Telesat (NASDAQ and TSX: TSAT) is one of the largest and most successful global satellite operators. Telesat works collaboratively with its customers to deliver critical connectivity solutions that tackle the world’s most complex communications challenges, providing powerful advantages that improve their operations and drive profitable growth. 

Continuously innovating to meet the connectivity demands of the future, Telesat Lightspeed, the company’s Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite network, will be the first and only LEO network optimized to meet the rigorous requirements of telecom, government, maritime and aeronautical customers. Operating under its international priority Ka-band spectrum rights, Telesat Lightspeed will redefine global satellite connectivity with ubiquitous, affordable, high-capacity links with fibre-like speeds. For updates on Telesat, follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, or visit www.telesat.com.

Media contacts:                                                 

Gregory FCA for Telesat
Charity Lacey
clacey@gregoryfca.com
+1 929 561 5991

Liquid Intelligent Technologies
Angela Chandy
Angela.chandy@liquid.tech

Telesat Forward-Looking Statements Safe Harbor

This news release contains statements that are not based on historical fact and are “forward-looking statements’’ within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and Canadian securities laws. When used herein, statements which are not historical in nature, or which contain the words “will,” “can,” or similar expressions, are forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ materially from the expectations expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements as a result of known and unknown risks and uncertainties.

These forward-looking statements are based on Telesat Corporation’s current expectations and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, some of which are beyond Telesat Corporation’s control, are difficult to predict, and could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or forecasted in the forward-looking statements. Known risks and uncertainties include but are not limited to: risks associated with operating satellites and providing satellite services, including satellite construction or launch delays, launch failures, in-orbit failures or impaired satellite performance; the impact of COVID-19 on Telesat Canada’s business and the economic environment; the ability to deploy successfully an advanced global Low Earth Orbit (“LEO”) satellite constellation, and the timing of any such deployment; the availability of government and/or other funding for the LEO satellite constellation; the receipt of proceeds in relation to the re-allocation of C-band spectrum; volatility in exchange rates; the ability to expand Telesat Canada’s existing satellite utilization; and risks associated with domestic and foreign government regulation. The foregoing list of important factors is not exhaustive. Investors should review the other risk factors discussed in the non-offering prospectus of Telesat Corporation and Telesat Partnership dated November 16, 2021 on the website maintained by the Canadian securities regulatory authorities at the System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval at www.sedar.com.