MUNICH – November 09, 2026 -- Rivada Space Networks has lined up more than $20 billion of business globally for its Outernet low-earth-orbit (LEO) constellation, and it has now added Telespazio Brasil as a partner to bring the network to government and enterprise customers in Latin America.
Telespazio is a 67/33 joint venture between Leonardo and Thales. Its Brazilian subsidiary has operated since 1997 from Rio de Janeiro. It supplies satellite communications, earth observation and ground-system services to government and enterprise customers in Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica and Peru.
Outernet routes traffic between 600 satellites without terrestrial gateways
The Outernet is a planned point-to-point network of 600 LEO satellites linked by inter-satellite lasers, with onboard processing and routing. Data stays in space from origin to destination, so traffic runs on a physically separated network. Rivada says the design delivers pole-to-pole coverage and end-to-end latencies lower than terrestrial fiber over long distances.
Rivada CEO Declan Ganley contrasted the architecture with "gap-filler" LEO systems that only bridge the last mile to the nearest terrestrial gateway. In his words, satellites become "routers in the sky."
Sovereign communications drive demand among Latin American government and enterprise users
The release names military, government and high-end enterprise customers in Latin America as increasingly demanding sovereign communications and critical-infrastructure resilience. It also lists banking, security, defense and telecommunications organizations as seekers of secure, fast networking as data volumes strain existing infrastructure.
Telespazio Brasil CEO Marzio Laurenti said the Outernet's multi-gigabit bi-directional performance and worldwide reach would support digital transformation and new business opportunities for enterprise and government clients.
Telespazio joins Rivada's Customer Advisory Board and starts technical workshops
Telespazio will sit on Rivada's Customer Advisory Board. It will also run a series of technical workshops to structure the collaboration and exchange information on the Outernet's capabilities. The release gives no commercial terms or service start dates.
The Outernet is being built on Rivada's German filings for high-priority Ka-band spectrum, known as Outernet-1. Telespazio generated sales of €850 million in 2025 and employs 3,500 people in 16 countries.