Space42 and Viasat have formally agreed to establish Equatys, a joint venture focused on satellite and ground infrastructure for direct-to-device (D2D) connectivity and advanced mobile satellite services. The cofounders plan to commit up to $1 billion in equity to the new company, marking a significant capital injection into the competitive landscape of non-geostationary satellite services.
What Happened
According to Space42 Managing Director Karim Michel Sabbagh, speaking at World Space Business Week in Paris on Tuesday, the two companies will each contribute $400 million in equity upon the company's formation. This initial funding is contingent on regulatory approvals and Viasat’s appointment as the prime technology contractor.
Sabbagh described the model as "a shared infrastructure in space," with Space42 and Viasat acting as the first two clients. Space42 is expected to contribute an additional $200 million in a future round that will be open to outside investors, while a separate step-up agreement of undisclosed size will boost joint funding for the first-generation constellation. Future capital is expected to come from a mix of founders’ equity, third-party equity, and debt, with operators using the system not required to invest.
Why It Matters
The establishment of Equatys introduces a "telecom tower" model to the satellite industry, where operators share satellites and ground infrastructure but retain their own spectrum and customer relationships. The first phase of the constellation will consist of fewer than 200 satellites, designed to provide continuous coverage up to approximately 50° to 55° latitude. The architecture is built to scale to 2,800 satellites across 60 orbital planes and three altitude layers.
Executives are targeting service commencement by the end of 2029, which is roughly a year later than the initial 2025 goal of commercial rollout within three years. Viasat Chair and CEO Mark Dankberg pitched the system as a solution for dropped calls in metro areas by handing off calls to satellites before returning them to terrestrial networks, a capability he acknowledged does not yet exist. Sabbagh emphasized that satellite call costs should remain comparable to terrestrial network unit economics.
The Bottom Line
While the deal puts concrete dollar figures and a planned prime contractor behind the venture, no operator customers or launch providers have been named. The initiative follows exploratory partnerships announced by Space42 with e& UAE and Indonesia’s Telkomsat in March. The joint venture now faces regulatory hurdles and the technical challenge of delivering metro-coverage handoffs by 2029.