Broadband Mobility Network News

While the true uptake of broadband across the maritime sector has been slow to develop, a number of market conditions are conspiring to drive the service mainstream. Intelsat’s Kurt Riegelman discusses the matter with Maritime Reporter & Engineering News. While the advent of full broadband in the maritime sector is the exception rather than the norm, the tides are changing as companies increasingly deploy fast, modern ‘land-like’ comms in an effort to achieve everything from attracting and retaining crew, to streamlining business operations at sea and enhancing safety.

New Agreement Brings Market Leading Broadband and Mobility Solutions to the Maritime, Oil & Gas and Enterprise Sectors. Intelsat S.A. (NYSE: I) has established strategic agreement to provide access to its global C- and Ku-band broadband mobility network to SpeedCast, the leading global satellite communications and maritime service provider. Under the multi-year agreement, Intelsat will provide SpeedCast access to Intelsat’s global C-band and Ku-band satellite capacity as well as to its terrestrially managed network, IntelsatOneSM.

Astrium Services, the global innovative provider of satellite enabled telecom solutions, is expanding its VSAT coverage with 100MHz of Ku-band capacity on the Intelsat 907 satellite, to serve customers on the North Sea and across European waterways. As previously announced by Intelsat, the coverage agreement will enable Astrium to address significant demand from the company's core maritime transport and customized Ku-band VSAT segments, including customers in the North Sea oil and gas sector, where an increasing number of specialised vessels are pushing the boundaries of maritime VSAT usage. In 2013, Astrium Services' direct sales channel Marlink provisioned services aboard vessels in the North Sea with high capacity requirements, in some cases up to 12 Mbps, from ship to shore.