Mr. Chair, good evening and thank you for inviting Telesat to appear today.
My name is Michele Beck. I am the vice-president of North American sales at Telesat, and I am here with my colleague, Stephen Hampton, manager of government affairs.
I want to thank the committee for undertaking this important study on infrastructure investments, especially in telecommunications.
When it comes to broadband connectivity, we all depend on a daily basis on Internet networks, mobile networks, LTE and 5G technology, even more so since the beginning of the pandemic we are going through. The pandemic has exposed inequalities in Internet access in Canada, where rural, remote and indigenous populations are the most affected. This gap persists, and we must take immediate measures to bridge the digital divide by choosing quick deployment solutions and technologies, as well as by fostering affordable and high–quality connectivity as quickly as possible.
Telecommunications networks are necessary infrastructure for economic growth and social inclusion. Governments from around the world have understood this and made considerable investments in their connectivity infrastructure in order to benefit from the economic performance it generates every year.
We thank the committee for including telecommunications in this study.
Telesat is one of the largest and most innovative global satellite operators and a proud Canadian company with over 50 years of experience flying and operating satellites from our headquarters here in Ottawa. Today, we transmit hundreds of high-definition television channels to millions of Canadians; provide broadband and other lifeline services to rural, remote and indigenous communities; and deliver mission-critical services to Canada's security and public safety community. We offer these same types of services all around the world.
In February we officially announced the most ambitious and innovative project of our long history, a $6.5-billion state-of-the-art low-earth orbit, or LEO, satellite constellation known as Telesat Lightspeed.
Lightspeed will deliver significant economic and social benefits to Canada, including affordable high-speed broadband and LTE and 5G services throughout the entire country. Lightspeed will also deliver billions of dollars in economic growth and support thousands of high-quality, high-paying jobs, largely in STEM, in the Canadian aerospace sector. This comes at a time when economic investment and job creation have never been more important.
Telesat Lightspeed is a perfect example of a targeted, strategic infrastructure investment that will transform the economic and social landscape and ensure affordable, fibre-like broadband connectivity everywhere in Canada.
We would like to commend governments across Canada for investing heavily in broadband infrastructure, notably the Government of Canada for its partnership with Telesat to bridge the digital divide through Lightspeed, as well as the Government of Quebec for its recently announced investment into the Lightspeed project.
Telesat takes a holistic, community-focused approach to affordably connect Canadians by partnering with local ISPs, mobile operators, municipalities and indigenous communities. Lightspeed will provide affordable, high-capacity backbone connectivity to a community, and the local partner will provide the last-mile connectivity to households, schools, hospitals, small businesses, as well as LTE and 5G.
The new space economy is one of the fastest-growing industries in the world, with the global space industry estimated to nearly triple to over a trillion U.S. dollars a year over the next two decades. Next-generation satellite connectivity like Telesat Lightspeed is responsible for the majority of this growth and will seamlessly integrate with terrestrial broadband networks to provide affordable, ubiquitous high-speed coverage globally.
The new space economy will not only unlock true universal connectivity but also deliver billions of dollars in economic benefits, innovation, IP generation and job creation for Canada. Given the substantial economic and social benefits, governments all around the world are betting big on this industry and are meaningfully investing in domestic space and broadband capabilities.
Telesat Lightspeed is the largest space program ever conceived in Canada and is exactly the infrastructure investment Canada needs to bridge the digital divide and lead the world in the future of connectivity and the new space economy.
Thank you very much.