Thai telco wants LEO constellation service
August 17, 2020
By Chris Forrester
Thailand’s TOT (Telephone Organisation of Thailand) says it has linked with Mu Space Corp, a Thai satellite start-up, to plan eventually for a low-Earth orbiting satellite fleet.
The memorandum of understanding between TOT and Mu Space, which was signed in July, starts with a joint study and testing of programme coding for server payloads in rockets in a trial for signal transmissions.
Local reports suggest that the agreement endorses TOT’s plan to develop a global satellite business which will initially be used as the ground ‘base station’ for other LEO operators prior to building its own satellites in the future. TOT already have two satellite gateway stations in the country.
TOT’s acting president Morakot Thienmontree said the LEO satellite development is seen as a revolution in mobility connectivity in the new economy, especially in the next 3-5 years, when the technology is expected to mature commercially worldwide. “We do not want to miss this train of innovation,” said Morakot, adding TOT needs to create new revenue streams in the long run.
The Bangkok Post says that TOT set up a working group to study and conduct a lab test for LEO satellite operations earlier this year, which consists of 60 TOT executives and staff.