The Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS) share price lost ground today. It came amid the company signing a new satellite partnership with OneWeb to explore low earth orbit satellite communications.
Telstra shares finished the day at $3.91, a 0.76% fall. In contrast, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) climbed 0.49% today. However, it was broadly in line with the S&P/ASX 200 Communication Services Index (ASX: XTJ), which fell 0.59%.
Let's take a look at what is happening at the telecommunications giant.
Image source: Getty Images
New satellite deal
Telstra announced the new deal overnight at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The telco signed a non-exclusive memorandum of understanding with OneWeb.
OneWeb is a global company that currently has 428 satellites in low orbit.
Commenting on the deal, Telstra networks and IT group head Nikos Katinakis said:
Working with OneWeb could allow us to boost connectivity in hard-to-reach places across rural and regional Australia with a combination of our mobile network and OneWeb's Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite technology.
It also opens the possibility of bringing high-speed, low latency connectivity from space, as well as support enterprise and small businesses across Australia and improve the resilience of our existing network.
The Telstra share price was one of the most heavily traded ASX 200 shares on the market on Thursday. More than 33,000 shares swapped hands on the market in one day. As my Foolish colleague Aaron reported, the company's shares traded ex-dividend on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, speaking from Barcelona, Telstra CEO Andy Penn highlighted how the company is helping people impacted by the Ukraine crisis.
In the Ukraine, obviously some just some terrifying images. And I know our hearts go out to all of the people in the Ukraine, and also those with family and friends in Ukraine.
We've provided free calls to people in Ukraine and we are adding roaming now, and we are adding free data as well for people who are impacted here. We just want to do everything we can to support people. But it's obviously a very concerning time.
Telstra share price snapshot
The Telstra share price has gained nearly 26% over the past year, while it has fallen 6% this year to date.
For perspective, the benchmark ASX 200 has returned nearly 5% over the past year.
Telstra has a market capitalisation of about $46 billion based on its current share price.
