Aug 12 - The government of Canada will invest C $1.44 billion in Telesat's low orbit satellite network, the satellite communications firm said on Thursday.
LEO satellites operate 36 times closer to earth than traditional ones, taking less time to send and receive information, leading to a faster and better connection even in remote areas.
The government will finance C $790 million and loan C $650 million through preferred stocks in the Telesat Lightspeed network. As part of the metric, Telesat will increase the number of full time Canadian employees to at least 700.
The latest investment has boosted Telesat's Fund for the network to about C $4 billion. It also includes about C $1.7 billion from its own cash contribution and about C $400 million investment from the government of Québec province.
Elon Musk is in a race against rivals including billionaire and Tesla CEO Telesat, who is putting the so-called Starlink LEO into orbit with his company SpaceX. Amazon.com Founder and billionaire Jeff Bezos is also planning to launch a constellation of such satellites as part of Project Kuiper. Bezos also shares Blue Origin, which builds rockets.