TAMPA, Fla. — French satellite broadband startup CTO has teamed up with TDF, which operates France’s largest network of carrier-neutral hosting sites, to help integrate its proposed very low Earth orbit (VLEO) 5G services with terrestrial telcos.
The companies announced an agreement March 20 to test the feasibility of using cellular frequencies from telecom partners to deliver VLEO services to user terminals, which CTO (Constellation Technologies & Operations) is developing in-house.
CTO founder and CEO Charles Delfieux said the agreement also paves the way for the venture to deploy gateways at TDF sites, supporting backhaul services and emergency communications between satellite and terrestrial networks.
“Beyond infrastructure, CTO and TDF share a common vision: to serve as neutral hosts for telecom operators — TDF on the ground, CTO from space,” Delfieux said via email.
Scaling VLEO services
CTO secured about $10 million from France’s state-backed Expansion Ventures fund last year toward plans to deploy 1500 small satellites 335 kilometers above Earth.
Satellites at this altitude could enable faster communications and smaller user terminals compared with higher orbits such as LEO, where SpaceX’s Starlink network operates, but they also contend with greater atmospheric drag and other operational challenges.
The lowest authorized orbit for Starlink broadband is 525 kilometers, though SpaceX has sought permission to operate at lower altitudes.
Delfieux said CTO remains on track to launch a test payload in June via a SpaceX Falcon 9 rideshare mission, hosted on a spacecraft from Italy’s D-Orbit.
The payload would support initial end-to-end 5G tests from 550 to 600 kilometers above Earth before CTO moves ahead with its VLEO deployment.
CTO plans to deploy its first two 350-kilogram VLEO satellites next year, with the full constellation set to be deployed by 2029 for global service coverage.
Just 36 satellites on the equatorial plane would be enough to provide an initial emergency connectivity service, according to Delfieux, ensuring connectivity even when natural disasters disable ground-based relay antennas.
“In disaster scenarios, our inter-satellite links will allow connectivity to “hop” between islands, or to mainland areas where terrestrial infrastructure remains intact, ensuring continued access via anchor gateways,” he said.
In addition to network integration, he said TDF would provide local expertise and workforce to support rapid connectivity deployments in critical situations.
