Saudi stc Group Signs with Astranis to Deploy Dedicated Satellite

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On September 10, stc group signed an agreement with Astranis to deploy a dedicated communications satellite for Saudi Arabia. The satellite is included in the Astranis Block 3 launch batch, is scheduled for launch in 2026, and will provide enterprise-grade satellite communications capabilities to the stc network starting in 2027.

Under the agreement, stc will gain control over the satellite's payload configuration and coverage area, with the relevant data stored within Saudi Arabia and operations conducted in accordance with enterprise-grade security requirements. The satellite will serve as part of stc's existing multi-orbit satellite communications capabilities, forming network infrastructure together with its existing terrestrial fiber and other orbital communications resources.

This deployment adopts Astranis's MicroGEO technology system. The Astranis MicroGEO platform is designed for geostationary orbit communications missions and can configure dedicated bandwidth and coverage for a single customer. The platform uses software-defined radio and can dynamically adjust bandwidth and power configurations. Astranis currently has 5 high-orbit satellites in operation, holds customer contracts for more than 10 satellites, and has a commercial satellite service contract backlog exceeding 1 billion USD.

stc currently provides GEO and LEO satellite communications services in Saudi Arabia. Its GEO business can provide enterprise customers with satellite capacity ranging from 5 MHz to 72 MHz via the Ku band, while its LEO business covers the entire country, including desert, border, and urban areas. With the addition of this new dedicated high-orbit satellite, stc will further increase satellite capacity for which it configures the payload and coverage area itself.

This project follows a different technical path from stc's existing satellite communications deployments. In October 2025, stc signed a space communications service agreement with AST SpaceMobile, planning to provide Direct-to-Device services to ordinary mobile terminals via low-orbit satellites, with related commercial services scheduled to launch in the fourth quarter of 2026; this cooperation with Astranis, by contrast, is aimed at dedicated high-orbit satellite capacity, with network services planned to be provided starting in 2027.