How Lasers Could Replace Undersea Cables & Reshape Global Internet | Rohit Jha - E698
"Without telling the board, we took some capital out. Most of our team is ex-space, so we gave them extra beer and pizza and said, 'Look, you have this much money. Let's get to space, and then if we are successful, everyone will be happy and no one will say anything.' Taking an insane risk mentality is absolutely critical to success." - Rohit Jha, Co-founder and CEO of Transcelestial
"The bottleneck is not the connectivity at the city level, but the connectivity between data centers sitting in different countries or continents. What we are now building is essentially an undersea cable replacement. We are putting 40 satellites around the equator, forming a ring that provides connectivity of a terabyte per second, moving internet and cloud capabilities directly to orbit." - Rohit Jha, Co-founder and CEO of Transcelestial
"You have had a space company like Starlink launch and become ten times bigger than the biggest telco in the world. Telcos, like power grids, will remain nationalistic as long as nations exist because they route sensitive information tied to national security. However, they are now forced to adopt the space domain organically to provide better latency and lower costs." - Rohit Jha, Co-founder and CEO of Transcelestial
Rohit Jha, Co-founder and CEO of Transcelestial, joins Jeremy Au to discuss the future of global connectivity through laser communications. They unpack how Transcelestial is building an orbital ring of satellites to effectively replace traditional undersea cables and move cloud capabilities directly into space.
Rohit breaks down the strategic difference between Transcelestial's high-bandwidth laser network and radio-frequency solutions like SpaceX’s Starlink, explaining why partnering with national telcos is more sustainable than competing against them. Finally, Rohit shares a wild personal story about fending off muggers in Germany, drawing parallels to the brave, risk-taking mentality that led his team to secretly launch their space division.
00:00 - Sneaking capital to launch a space division
01:13 - Introduction to Transcelestial and laser internet
03:39 - From investment banking to understanding global networks
05:39 - Iterating product-market fit with terrestrial telcos
07:35 - How laser technology differs from SpaceX and Starlink
10:54 - Building an orbital ring to replace undersea cables
14:54 - The future of physical telcos in the age of space internet
19:14 - Why telcos prefer partnering over competing with space giants
26:04 - A personal story of bravery: Fighting muggers in Germany
28:46 - Why taking calculated risks is critical for multi-planetary goals
Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/VoQXHJnLV04
Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/41mKqnvXUsF1h9JOSIJ1Ox
Keywords: Space Tech, Laser Communications, Satellite Internet, Telecommunications, Undersea Cable Replacement, SpaceX Starlink Alternative, Southeast Asia Deep Tech
