Telesat’s most recent quarterly results, announced May 6, held steady as the company continues to prepare for the launch of its Lightspeed low-Earth orbit constellation next year.
Company officials highlighted already announced deals in the quarterly call with investors. The Lightspeed program has already received a fresh round of government funding as the delayed low Earth orbit constellation continues to aim for a launch in 2026.
Notably, in March, Telesat signed multi-year agreements for Lightspeed connectivity with Orange and ADN Telecom and in April, Telesat signed a multi-year agreement with Viasat to bring Lightspeed into Viasat’s aviation, maritime, enterprise and defense markets.
For the quarter ending March 31, 2025, Telesat’s net loss held steady at $51 million – compared to a net loss of $52 million during the same quarter in 2024. Officials noted a gain on foreign exchange in the first quarter of 2025, which was offset by lower revenue and a loss “related to an increase in the fair value of the Telesat Lightspeed financing warrants.”
“Our recently-announced contract with Viasat, along with the Orange and ADN agreements we announced earlier this year, are clear evidence of the strong market response we are seeing to the Telesat Lightspeed offering,” CEO Dan Goldberg said during a quarterly call with investors.
He noted that the LEO segment backlog at year-end of 2025 will exceed the GEO segment backlog at year-end of 2024. The company’s GEO backlog is $1 billion as of March 31, while LEO – principally Lightspeed – is at $1.1 billion as of May 5. Overall fleet utilization was 66.5% as of March 31.
Adjusted EBITDA was $67 million in the quarter, down $43 million or 39 percent from last year; operating expenses increased by 13% to $53 million due to headcount in Telesat’s Lightspeed program as well as higher legal and professional fees.
Revenue declined by 23% or $35 million year-over-year, to $117 million in 2025. Most of this was due to a North American direct-to-home television customer renewing at a lower rate, along with reduced services for customers including Indonesian rural broadband and the Canadian government. Telesat held its 2025 full-year guidance steady. Revenues are expected to be between $405 million and $425 million, adjusted EBITDA will be between $170 million and $190 million on a consolidated basis, and capital expenditures (mostly due to Telesat Lightspeed) will be $900 million to $1.1 billion.
