Q&A: Terrestar’s Stéphane Miljours says space infrastructure innovation cannot be a standalone

Stéphane Miljours is the director of IoT (internet of things) at Terrestar Solutions Inc. This week, Miljours participated in a panel discussion at the Canada’s Rural and Remote Broadband Community conference in Saskatchewan. As Canada continues its push in space infrastructure innovation, Miljours sat down for an exclusive interview with The Wire Report to talk about his panel participation, why space innovation must coexist with ground infrastructure, and whether he thinks satellite is a permanent last-mile solution. Stéphane Miljours. LinkedIn photograph Explain to me what hybrid IoT means. At the simplest level, IoT is all about connecting physical things like sensors, devices, so they can communicate and send data to send useful information to whomever would be using this. It could be a sensor to monitor temperature, water level is another good example, vehicle location, or any infrastructure you want to monitor remotely. IoT is really turning what’s happening in the field or the physical world into information people can act on. If I bring this back to what we’ve launched, regarding hybrid IoT, Terrestar is pretty proud because we are the only Canadian controlled mobile satellite operator that offers what we call uninterrupted connectivity for an IoT device. How it works is by automatically switching between cellular and satellite networks, so the device always remains online. This is really important because when you need some data to be sent, you want the device to be always connected, so that’s the value proposition that we bring with our solution. What impact is Terrestar’s hybrid IoT innovation having on remote businesses? Canada is an enormous territory. It’s large to cover and the thing is terrestrial network, yes it does an excellent job, but when it stops, it stops. There is an economic side also where the network cannot be deployed everywhere in Canada. You’ve got to remember that 75 per cent of Canada still lacks a mobile network, which means there is a significant gap for rural areas and remote and northern communities. There’s a lot of critical infrastructure located in remote areas. Do you feel satellite is a permanent solution for addressing remote connectivity? Satellites will not replace cellular. We’re here to complement the cellular network. It’s really to bring the conversion between the two networks. It’s not our intent to have satellite everywhere. Whenever we can use the cellular, we’ll use it. Our hybrid solution uses both networks. We will always prioritize the terrestrial, and then when needed we’re going to go switch to satellite. We already have what we call our GEO (geostationary Earth orbit) satellites, so we provide service with this. But already we have signed an MOU with Equatys that will bring a new constellation that will support evolved service. Right now, what we offer is more related to specific use cases and industries that we can serve, that don’t need a lot of data to be transported. The type of use cases we’re proposing is related to remote monitoring, asset tracking, so that does not require a huge amount of data. The evolved constellation will allow a broadband solution that is more similar to what is currently available through terrestrial networks. Tell me about your participation in the CRRBC conference. Our panel was related to space as infrastructure and also driving sovereign connectivity and new revenue growth in Canada’s north. The main topic was describing what we mean by space as infrastructure. My position on that was really that we launched hybrid IoT, which brings the conversion between terrestrial and satellite, so for me, space infrastructure cannot be treated as a standalone. You need to think about the overall connectivity fabric alongside cellular networks. It’s not just the satelliting orbit, it’s also the satellite, the spectrum, the ground infrastructure, the terrestrial network, the device, and the application. So you have to see space infrastructure as a whole, everything into that connectivity fabric. Ultimately, the customer should not have to think about whether this connection comes from satellite or cellular. The only thing that they want is for the service to remain connected. What do you make of the government’s increased supportive position of satellite for last-mile connectivity? What’s important for us when you talk about sovereignty, connectivity in space, it’s not just what flag is on the satellite, does it come from Canada or elsewhere, but it’s more who controls the capability? Who controls the spectrum, who operates the network, who decides the capacity to use, and so on. For Canada, sovereign connectivity really means control of the asset. Even though we would be partnering with a global connectivity partner, we want to make sure that we fully contribute to Canadian sovereignty around connectivity. For sure, the government is looking forward to satellite, but at the same time, there is still some regulatory uncertainty. While the world is still advancing this, Canada needs to move quickly to create the conditions for investment and innovation to really protect our sovereignty. That’s what we’re waiting for. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. mcollins@thewirereport.ca

Q&A: Terrestar’s Stéphane Miljours says space infrastructure innovation cannot be a standalone

Telecom |
By Maria Collins
|November 6, 2026

Unlock all the Canadian telecom, broadcasting and digital media news you need.

FREE TRIAL

SUBSCRIBE

Inside The Wire Report

Information

Hill Times Publishing

Get in Touch With Us

Q&A: Terrestar’s Stéphane Miljours says space infrastructure innovation cannot be a standalone

Telecom | By Maria Collins |November 6, 2026

Unlock all the Canadian telecom, broadcasting and digital media news you need.

FREE TRIAL

SUBSCRIBE

Telus suffers outages in Eastern Canada

Budget 2026: Feds provide no details on Carney’s national ‘broadband backbone,’ last-mile efforts

Telus, Steelworkers agree to a new contract

Related Stories

CRTC dismisses Rogers complaint over MVNO decision

Satellite is ‘here to stay’ as connectivity solution, industry players say

Ericsson and Telus extend 5G network nationally

Network upgrades and standards are needed to support Canadian public safety: Ericsson

Reuse & Permissions

Inside The Wire Report

Information

Hill Times Publishing

Get in Touch With Us

Telecom |
By Maria Collins
|November 6, 2026