[Edaily Reporter Kang Min-koo ] A South Korean company specializing in space ground stations and a French company that develops and provides optical ground station (OGS) services are joining forces to enter the commercial optical ground station service market.

CONTEC Co.,Ltd(451760)announced on the 11th that it had signed its first contract with Cailabs for the use of Cailabs’ optical ground station commercial services.

This agreement was signed to provide Free Space Optics (FSO) ground station services to overseas government agencies.

To facilitate future additional contracts and strategic cooperation for the joint construction of FSO ground stations, Lee Seong-hee, CEO of CONTEC Co.,Ltd., personally attended the International Space Conference hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron and held a signing ceremony with Kyle Labs.

Only a very small number of FSO ground stations have been built worldwide. Through this agreement and collaboration, CONTEC Co.,Ltd has established a crucial foothold for the commercialization of OGS services. OGS is a next-generation ground station communication system that uses lasers instead of conventional radio frequencies to receive large volumes of data at transmission speeds ranging from 10 Gbps to 100 Gbps.

In 2023, CONTEC Co.,Ltd invested its own funds to enter into a joint design and development partnership with Kyle Labs for the construction of an optical ground station, and last April, it installed an OGS at the Jeju Asian Space Park.

Both companies anticipate that this will mark a new phase for global optical ground station services and provide an opportunity to accelerate the acquisition of new customers.

Lee Seong-hee, CEO of CONTEC Co.,Ltd., stated, “We swiftly invested in the construction of an optical ground station based on our assessment that demand for laser-based space-to-ground optical communication will grow as satellite imagery enters the ultra-high-resolution era and wireless spectrum resources rapidly become saturated.” He added, “This agreement and strategic partnership with Kyle Labs will serve as a solid starting point for global commercial services.”