Telespazio inaugurates a new Teleport in Maricá and a new Gateway for OneWeb’s LEO satellite constellation

01 March 2023 18:00

Telespazio Brasil, a subsidiary of Telespazio (a Leonardo and Thales 67/33% joint venture) today presented its new Maricá satellite teleport in the State of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), which is hosting the new OneWeb low-Earth orbit satellite Gateway.

Both the infrastructures were inaugurated with the ceremony of the ribbon cutting attended by the Secretary of Rio de Janeiro’s Civil House, Nicola Miccione, the Executive Secretary of the Communications Ministry (MCOM), Sônia Faustino Mendes, the Italian Ambassador in Brazil, Francesco Azzarello, the General Consul of Italy in Rio de Janeiro, Massimiliano Iacchini, the General Consul of the United Kingdom in Rio de Janeiro, Anjoum Noorani, Maricá´s Mayor, Fabiano Horta and several political and military authorities.

The event also counted with the presence of the Coordinator of Space Activities at Leonardo and CEO of Telespazio Luigi Pasquali, Telespazio Latin America Regional Director and CEO of Telespazio Brasil Marzio Laurenti, and the Head of Regulatory and Government Affairs at OneWeb Christopher Casarrubias.

With a surface area of 150.000m² Telespazio Teleport in Maricá is one of the most advanced satellite teleports in Latin America. Maricá can host several satellites earth stations, LEO and GEO satellites infrastructures, Earth observation ground stations ensuring the highest level of availability and security. The Teleport has a great location due the proximity of state and federal roads (RJ-106 and BR-101), airports and the major business center in Rio. Served with redundant internet connection and fiber connectivity to the main datacenters in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.

The OneWeb Gateway occupies an area of 50.000m² and is currently operating with 15 antennas. It is served by a fully equipped redundant data center in the same location. The Gateway will be part of OneWeb’s LATAM ground system to deliver true broadband experience with low-latency and high-security communications for government institutions, defense, Oil & Gas and aviation industries, as well as for mobile network companies bringing 3G, 4G and 5G to all parts of Brazil.

The partnership between Telespazio and OneWeb dates back to 2019, when another OneWeb Gateway was installed at Telespazio’s Scanzano Space Center, in Palermo (Italy), which currently has 15 operative antennas.

“The inauguration of the Marica Teleport is a key piece in Telespazio's global strategy on Ground Segment. Brazil, where we have been present since 1997, and more generally Latin America, is a region with economic potential only partially expressed, with some economies in strong growth and with a clear satellite vocation both for SATCOM and Geoinformation services. It is an emerging market, interesting as much as competitive, in which Telespazio renews its commitment”, pointed Luigi Pasquali, Coordinator of Space Activities at Leonardo and CEO of Telespazio.

The new Marica Teleport is part of Telespazio strategy that aims from one side to enlarge our SATCOM portfolio - as the fundamental inclusion of LEO capabilities from OneWeb - and from another side to offer ground-as-services opportunities to the satellite operators, as OneWeb, that we are proud to have as a partner and a customer. Our intention is to concentrate in this Teleport our future satellites ground infrastructure”, stated Marzio Laurenti, Latin America Regional Director of Telespazio and CEO of Telespazio Brasil.

Christopher Casarrubias, Head of Regulatory and Government Affairs at OneWeb commented: ¨We are delighted to take our longstanding relationship with Telespazio to the next phase with the completion of this satellite gateway in Brazil. This gateway will be one of the most advanced in Latin America and help to bring reliable connectivity to Brazilian communities and customers across the country. As OneWeb looks ahead to the completion of our constellation and global coverage this year, this marks a significant milestone for our business and for the people and business in Brazil.”