Canada's IoT Frontier: Terrestar Launches Hybrid Satellite Network

MONTRÉAL, QC – February 11, 2026 – By George Millen

Terrestar Solutions Inc., in a landmark move for Canadian telecommunications, today announced the commercial launch of its hybrid satellite-cellular IoT service. This new platform, the first of its kind to be domestically controlled and built entirely on global 3GPP standards, promises to deliver reliable Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity to the farthest reaches of the nation. Powered by technology from software innovator Mavenir, the service aims to erase the digital divide that has long challenged Canada's remote industries and communities.

Bridging Canada's Vast Digital Divide

Canada's geography presents a formidable obstacle to universal connectivity. With vast, sparsely populated territories, extending terrestrial cellular networks to every corner is often economically and logistically impossible. This has left critical sectors like agriculture, mining, transportation, and environmental monitoring operating with inconsistent or non-existent data connectivity. Terrestar's new service directly confronts this challenge by seamlessly blending satellite and cellular networks.

This hybrid approach ensures that an IoT device—whether a sensor on a remote pipeline, a tracker on a long-haul truck, or a monitor in a northern agricultural operation—can maintain a connection by automatically switching to satellite coverage when it moves beyond the reach of a cell tower. The potential impact is transformative, enabling real-time data collection for enhanced efficiency, safety, and decision-making in industries that form the backbone of the Canadian economy. The service leverages Terrestar's Echostar T1 geostationary satellite and its licensed S-band spectrum to provide a blanket of coverage across the country.

“Terrestar’s Hybrid IoT Service launch represents a transformational moment for satellite connectivity in Canada,” said Jacques Leduc, Chief Executive Officer of Terrestar. “By partnering with Mavenir, we are bringing to market the country’s first fully standards-based hybrid satellite–cellular IoT platform, an achievement that underscores Canada’s leadership in open network innovation. Together, we are proving that open, interoperable architectures can redefine how critical industries connect, operate, and innovate, while laying the foundation for a future of direct to device satellite services for all Canadians.”

The Technology Powering Ubiquitous Connectivity

At the heart of this new service is a suite of cloud-native, virtualized software from Mavenir. Unlike traditional, hardware-centric network infrastructure, Mavenir’s solutions run as software on standard, off-the-shelf servers. This approach provides Terrestar with unprecedented flexibility, scalability, and cost-efficiency.

The core components include Mavenir’s virtualized Radio Access Network (vRAN) and its Converged Packet Core. Crucially, the entire system is built to the 3GPP Release 17 standard for Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN). This is a pivotal detail. For years, satellite and cellular networks have operated in separate, proprietary silos. The adoption of a global standard like Release 17 creates a common language, allowing devices and networks to interoperate seamlessly without special hardware or custom software. It effectively makes the satellite a natural extension of the mobile network.

This standards-based architecture not only ensures smooth integration with existing mobile operator networks in Canada but also future-proofs the platform for upcoming technological advancements. The system is managed by Mavenir’s analytics and service assurance platforms, ensuring carrier-grade reliability for commercial traffic.

Pardeep Kohli, President and CEO of Mavenir, highlighted the global implications of the launch. “This deployment is a clear signal to the global operator community that 3GPP‑based NTN is ready for commercial scale,” he stated. “By combining Mavenir’s cloud‑native vRAN and Converged Core with Terrestar’s satellite expertise, we have delivered a fully standards‑compliant, operator‑grade hybrid IoT network. Evolving NTN as a seamless extension of the mobile network...is a critical step toward a more resilient, inclusive, and future‑proof global connectivity landscape.”

A Foundational Step in the Race for Direct-to-Device

While the immediate focus is on IoT, this launch is a strategic foundational piece in the rapidly accelerating race to provide direct-to-device (D2D) satellite services for all. The underlying architecture that connects IoT sensors today is designed to support more complex services tomorrow. Terrestar and Mavenir are already actively advancing the platform’s capabilities to include voice and messaging over NTN, as well as the evolution to 5G NR NTN standards.

This roadmap positions Terrestar to eventually offer services that could allow standard smartphones to text or call from anywhere in Canada, regardless of cellular coverage. By establishing a standards-based, interoperable network now, the company is building the on-ramp for mobile network operators to extend their own services via satellite, unlocking new revenue streams and dramatically improving network resilience for all Canadians, especially during natural disasters or other emergencies when terrestrial infrastructure can fail.

Navigating a Competitive Satellite Landscape

Terrestar and Mavenir are entering a dynamic and increasingly crowded market. Rogers Communications recently launched a satellite-to-mobile service in partnership with an international provider, and global LEO constellation operators like Starlink and Iridium are major forces in providing remote connectivity. Iridium, in fact, is also partnering with Mavenir to develop its own 3GPP standards-based D2D service, expected to launch commercially in 2026.

However, Terrestar’s offering carries two powerful differentiators. First, it is the only Canadian-controlled and headquartered mobile satellite operator, a significant advantage for government and enterprise clients concerned with data sovereignty and national infrastructure resilience. Second, its strict adherence to the 3GPP Release 17 standard from day one for this hybrid IoT service sets it apart from more proprietary initial offerings, promising greater interoperability and a smoother path for integration with mobile network partners.

This strategic launch not only addresses an immediate need for robust industrial IoT connectivity across Canada but also firmly establishes a domestically controlled foothold in the next generation of satellite communications. By building an open, standards-based platform, Terrestar is not just connecting remote assets; it is laying down a new layer of national infrastructure designed for the future of a fully connected Canada.