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Faced with the explosion of digital uses, the demand for rapid and reliable connectivity continues to grow. However, terrestrial infrastructure reaches their limits: expensive deployment in rural areas, excessive latency over long distances, saturation of mobile networks in urban areas. These constraints accentuate the digital divide and slow down digital transformation.
Satellite broadband appears as an essential alternative, but current solutions, whether geostationary satellites or existing Leo constellations, still suffer from too high latency and flow limitations. The objective is no longer simply to bring the internet everywhere, but to do it with quality comparable to terrestrial networks.
This is precisely what the Constellation Technologies & Operations (CTO) offer, a French start-up that develops a constellation satellites in very low earth orbit (VLEO), combining 5G Millimeter Wave (MMWAVE) and an on-board of signals. A world premiere that could revolutionize the space telecoms sector.
A strong growth market, between consolidation and technological rupture
Investments in satellite constellations now exceed 30 billion euros, with actors like SpaceX (Starlink), Amazon (Kuiper) and Oneweb.
These constellations are still based on conventional frequency bands (KA, KU) and architectures requiring strong dependence on the soil stations. CTO adopts a fundamentally different approach, by exploiting the high frequencies MMWAVE (24-100 GHz), already used for terrestrial 5G, and by providing its satellites with a regenerative treatment capable of managing signals directly from space.
Consequently, CTO targets a leading B2B clientele: telecom operators, Internet access providers and governments. These players seek a robust solution, integrated into their existing infrastructure, without the need for a separate network.
A technological rupture: 5G mmwave in very low orbit
CTO designs a spatial infrastructure capable of providing high speed internet with latency of less than 10 milliseconds, a level comparable to optical fiber. To achieve this objective, its architecture is based on several major innovations.
The start-up achieves a world premiere with the 5G mmwave transmission from space, offering flows much superior to traditional satellites. Thanks to the embedded treatment of signals, dependence on soil stations is considerably reduced and the effectiveness of the optimized network. The positioning in Vleo, between 200 and 300 kilometers above sea level, makes it possible to limit latency while improving energy consumption. Finally, interoperability with terrestrial telecom infrastructure guarantees operators the possibility of exploiting this solution as a natural extension of their network.
A first key milestone will be laid in June 2025, with the launch of “Early Test”, its first transmission module, which will validate CTO capacity to provide a 5G mmwave Internet from space.
A advanced team and a quick execution
Founded by Charles Delfieux, former expert in space and telecoms infrastructure, CTO brings together engineers from Thales Alenia Space, Airbus Defense & Space and large telecom operators. The company is based on hybrid expertise, combining satellite know-how and 5G networks engineering.
His team has already led a series of advanced ground tests, by recreating the spatial conditions, in order to optimize the transmission and management of the mmwave spectrum. The challenge is now to finalize the deployment of the first demonstrator before initiating the industrialization of the constellation.
Structured funding to accelerate deployment
CTO recently raised 9.3 million euros in SEED with NewSpace Capital, Karista and several Business Angels specializing in telecoms and aerospace. This funding made it possible to finalize the development of the first early test module and to carry out tests in real conditions. It also served to secure the partnership with an launch operator, which will send Early Test in orbit in June 2025, and to strengthen the technical team to accelerate the research and development phases for the next generations of satellites.
The company is now preparing a series A of around 50 million euros, which will be used to finance the first commercial satellites and their production.
