Space42 And Viasat To Launch Equatys For Global Direct To Device Services

(RTTNews) - SpaceTech company, Space42, and Viasat, Inc. (VSAT), a provider of broadband and communications products and services, Monday said that they intend to establish Equatys, a jointly owned entity.

Equatys aims to facilitate global Direct-to-Device (D2D) services and evolve existing and planned Mobile Satellite Services (MSS) to integrate with a 5G network environment.

Equatys is anticipated to integrate satellite and terrestrial networks using a platform which will be accessible to standard smartphones and IoT devices, enabling seamless connectivity.

The venture is expected to support over 100 MHz of harmonized MSS spectrum, already allocated in more than 160 markets. Commercial deployment is targeted within a 3-year timeframe.

Mark Dankberg, Chairman and CEO, Viasat, said, "Equatys will uniquely make possible a shared multi-orbit network of scale with standards-based open architecture to address the significant D2D and next-generation MSS market opportunity. By leveraging high performance transparent satellite architectures and shared infrastructure, the network will deliver cost efficient capacity and use 5G New Radio standards evolving the existing deployed MSS services including, for example, the safety of air, land, and sea."