Montreal, Canada-based Terrestar Solutions is to join Equatys, a shared-infrastructure entity aimed at providing direct-to-device satellite services to compete with SpaceX’s Starlink.

Equatys, founded in September by California-based Viasat and the United Arab Emirates’ Space42, aims to apply a shared, standards-based approach to D2D satellite services under which participating companies retain full control of their own assets.

Multiple constellations

Terrestar is the first third-party company to join Equatys since it was founded.

The deal means Terrestar’s planned CaStar constellation is to interoperate with the Equatys “sovereign shell” multi-system satellite infrastructure, providing improved coverage for all users.

The companies said in a statement that CaStar would “operate as a sovereign national system, with Canadian gateways and ground network keeping domestic data within Canadian jurisdiction, while interworking with Equatys at a global scale”.

Equatys brings together 100 MHz of combined mobile satellite service (MSS) spectrum from Space42 and Viasat, which have committed a combined $1 billion (£75m) in capital to the venture.

An incident earlier this month in which SpaceX throttled critical Starlink and military Starshield services used by Ukraine has intensified countries’ efforts to find Starlink alternatives.