Singapore-based startup Transcelestial, specializing in wireless laser communications equipment, announced on Thursday it raised $10 million in a funding round led by Airbus Ventures.
The funding will be used to boost internet infrastructure in Southeast Asia and India, Rohit Jha, CEO and co-founder of Transcelestial, said.
“The high cost of putting fiber optic cables under the sea or underground is a barrier to getting poorer countries and rural America onto a speed of internet that works”, Jha said.
Transcelestial’s technology is basically fiber optics going wireless. Instead of shooting light through cables, it is shot wirelessly from a device and is installed on top of buildings or cell towers. The devices are manufactured in Singapore and the lasers can connect a distance of 2 km to 3 km to transport data.
“The thesis back in the sixties and seventies was, eventually the size and the efficiency of the power of the lasers would reach a point where you could use lasers directly, wirelessly, to transmit data. And you don’t need these fiber cables anymore,” said Jha. “In the last five to six years, we have reached capabilities that allow us to do that commercially.”
The technical challenge Transcelestial had to overcome was to build hardware that could compensate for buildings or cell tower movement to make sure the beams can hit receivers on the other end.
Apart from reducing the cost in constructing internet infrastructure, wireless laser communications also provide more security than using fiber optics, which can be tapped to steal data, Jha added.
