TAMPA, Fla. -- France's state-backed Expansion Ventures fund has invested approximately $10 million in Constellation Technologies & Operations, a two-year-old French startup aiming to deploy 1,500 small 5G broadband satellites in very low Earth orbit (VLEO).
The investment, announced on October 14, will facilitate the completion of engineering studies for the startup's first two satellites, which are scheduled for launch in 2026. These satellites will utilize cellular frequencies from terrestrial partners to provide services to user terminals developed in-house.
The funding will also support initial end-to-end tests via a payload hosted on a spacecraft from Italy's D-Orbit, set to launch in June on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rideshare mission. Founder Charles Delfieux stated, "We are completely on schedule to integrate and test our payload by December," adding that it will then be integrated at D-Orbit's facility and shipped to Florida.
Delfieux conceived the startup while managing large World Bank infrastructure programs aimed at improving access to basic services, noting that connectivity remains a challenge in many regions.
He emphasized that the convergence of terrestrial and satellite networks creates new opportunities to address connectivity issues, asserting that space technology is the only economically viable solution to complement terrestrial telecommunications and achieve ubiquitous connectivity.
Several European telecommunications companies have shown interest in revenue-sharing agreements with Constellation Technologies, with at least one already committed to testing technology during the orbital demonstration next year.
The startup aims to provide terrestrial operators access to the expanding high-speed, low-latency satellite broadband market, currently led by SpaceX's Starlink, as well as Amazon and other entrants planning their own low Earth orbit (LEO) networks.
According to Delfieux, telcos could repurpose some of their capacity in the 26-gigahertz band to deliver higher bandwidth 5G services from space to flat panel electronically steered antennas measuring 30 by 30 centimeters. This could grant partner telcos access to a space-based internet market projected to be worth $35 billion by 2035, as noted by GSMA Intelligence analysts.
Despite the advantages of VLEO, such as speedier communications and potentially smaller terminals, the startup faces operational challenges, including air drag and regulatory hurdles. Delfieux mentioned that their 350-kilogram satellites would measure about the size of a large kitchen table without solar panels and are designed to last seven years in VLEO before disintegrating in the atmosphere.
Constellation Technologies plans to begin mass production and deploy its full global constellation between 2027 and 2029. Currently, the startup employs 30 people across its offices in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines and Toulouse, France. The Expansion Ventures fund, managed by French investment firm Bpifrance, is part of the France 2030 strategic investment plan.