The global satellite operator and CSP have completed on-orbit testing across several applications using Telesat’s Phase 1 Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite, achieving an average 38ms round trip latency.
The test was conducted by staff from TIM Brasil’s Innovation Department in Rio de Janeiro, leveraging an 85 cm Intellian parabolic antenna to uplink and downlink to the LEO satellite.
“Coverage and network reliability are critically important to mobile customers, which can be challenging to deliver in a country as large as Brazil,” said Mauro Wajnberg, GM of Telesat Brasil.
“Telesat Lightspeed backhaul connectivity will be transformative for Mobile Network Operators like TIM Brasil, who are seeking cost-effective, enterprise-grade backhaul solutions to affordably connect all potential subscribers, no matter where they live.”
Over five days, the teams measured 4G mobile data traffic performance over LEO, by streaming 1080p YouTube videos and by using video conferencing tools, WhatsApp voice over LTE and interface compatibility.
In addition to the latency feat, Telesat and TIM Brasil reported that the tested applications ran efficiently without interference, fading or performance breaks.
“Through this testing program, we believe Telesat Lightspeed is a promising technology to expand the geographic reach of our 4G/LTE and 5G networks,” said Silmar Palmeira, director of architecture, innovation and technology at TIM Brasil. “Telesat’s Phase 1 LEO satellite performance delivered mobile experiences comparable to our terrestrial networks and we believe Telesat Lightspeed, with a mobile-optimized hardware ecosystem, has the potential to become a core component in our future infrastructure.”
TIM Brasil has said it is committed to achieving 100% 4G network coverage by 2023 and has been a leader in 5G testing in Brazil, even before the technology became a reality in the country. To this end, the operator opened its innovation laboratory, TIM Lab, in 2019 to test new technologies for its next-generation mobile networks.
