Orange fired up another satellite connectivity deal, tapping Telesat for a range of options covering its home market of France in an arrangement involving a ground station capacity commitment among other elements.

A Telesat Lightspeed Landing Station is set to be hosted by an Orange teleport around 170km from Paris, with the French capital itself covered by an existing point of presence run on a private line provided by the operator’s international wholesale unit.

The Telesat deal involves carrier ethernet connectivity “backed by service level agreements”. Orange stated the arrangement will strengthen the “resilience of global digital infrastructure”, in turn boosting “digital inclusion in the most remote areas”.

Emmanuel Rochas, CEO of Orange Wholesale International, said Telesat would help improve the operator’s mobile backhaul, “crisis response and remote connectivity”.

Orange noted the ground station site selected for the Telesat arrangement is one of 26 it operates globally. The facility holds a Tier-4 rating from the World Teleport Association (WTA), meaning it offers full redundancy, automatic monitoring and switching for power, has no frequency restrictions and employs motorised antennas with advanced tracking capabilities.

The WTA definition means the ground station site is secured using physical means, while typically being located “close to police, fire and medical facilities”.

Orange believes its deal with Telesat will up its “ability to meet customer needs in underserved regions”, adding “secure, reliable, low-latency, seamless connectivity” to its existing “multi-orbit portfolio of satellite partnerships”.