Satellite Operator News

Cobham Satcom, a provider of radio and satellite communications solutions to the maritime and land mobile sectors, has unveiled Sea Tel 1500, a 1.5-meter dual-band, multi-orbit VSAT antenna solution.Available in single Ku- or Ka-band, or as a ‘two antennas in one’ dual Ku-Ka-band configuration, the Sea Tel 1500 enables vessels to seamlessly switch from Ku- to Ka-band in a simple click. In a world of communication technology transition marked by the emergence of new satellite constellations…

Late last month, a Russian-flagged cargo ship carrying corn pulled into the Turkish port of Izmir on the Aegean Sea. The SV Nikolay had loaded the grain at Port Kavkaz, in Russia, six days earlier on June 18, according to documentation provided by an employee of the Russian company that owns the ship.A Reuters analysis of satellite imagery, ship-tracking data and open-source photos and videos yields a different port of origin for the SV Nikolay. On June 18, Reuters’ analysis of a satellite image indicates…

KVH Industries, Inc., announced that its Board of Directors has appointed Brent C. Bruun as President and Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board. The Board also appointed two seasoned industry executives, David Kagan and David Tolley, as directors of KVH.Bruun first joined KVH in 2008 and has served as KVH’s Interim President and Chief Executive Officer since March 2022. He also served as Chief Operating Officer of KVH beginning in 2016, as well as Interim Chief Financial Officer of the Company.

Norwegian owner and operator of offshore service vessels Golden Energy Offshore is deploying Inmarsat’s Fleet LTE service to meet the growing data requirements of modern offshore operations and support sustainability.Headquartered in Ålesund, Norway, Golden Energy Offshore owns and operates a fleet of offshore support vessels providing offshore services to the oil, gas, and renewables industries. The company is a long-term Inmarsat customer and also a longstanding user of the satellite communications specialist’s VSAT services.

OceanGate Expeditions has announced Inmarsat as the satellite service provider for the 2022 Titanic Survey Expedition. Inmarsat’s Fleet Xpress high-speed satellite service will enable OceanGate Expeditions’ at-sea crew to instantly connect with scientific and operational resources anywhere in the world and to share important findings immediately while enhancing safety for the entire operation. Following the tragic loss of life in the sinking of Titanic, the International Convention for Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) was adopted.

Mobile satellite communications provider Inmarsat has secured a contract with the Norwegian offshore support vessel owner Golden Energy Offshore to provide its three-in-one network service Fleet LTE, to meet the needs of vessel charterers, crew, and operators.Using Fleet LTE, three Golden Energy Offshore support vessels will be able to switch between Fleet Xpress (Ka-band), FleetBroadband (L-band), and 4G coverage, depending on the strongest available signal, and band selection will be made automatically…

Thai power producer Gulf Energy Development Pcl on Thursday said its consortium had signed a deal worth 30.9 billion baht ($927 million) with the country's port authority for construction and operation of container terminals.The firm, among the country's largest private power producers, is owned by Thai billionaire Sarath Ratanavadi and has been investing billions of dollars to expand its infrastructure business."Gulf will use accumulated experience in developing and managing large-scale infrastructure projects in Thailand and overseas to develop the port…

Better connectivity, easier data sharing and a thriving IoT start-up scene demonstrate that maritime digitalization is flourishing according to satellite service provider Inmarsat.For many, the lasting consequence of COVID-19 may be the upheaval it brought to the familiar rhythms of daily life. Thankfully the internet enabled a semblance of routine activity to continue, as they worked from home while their children attended digital classrooms.The outbreak forced us to work together yet apart through video conferencing and collaborative online platforms…

A newly established consortium is going to develop a network for low Earth orbit satellites delivering ice chart data to ships at sea. A new research project called MARIOT (Maritime IoT) is going to develop a low Earth orbit satellite network based on the new VDES (VHF Data Exchange System) technology. The consortium behind the project is headed by the Danish satellite operator Sternula. The satcom developers GateHouse, Space Inventor, and Satlab as well as Aalborg University…

Inmarsat Maritime President Ronald Spithout says providing crews with enhanced levels of connectivity and support is critical at this unprecedented time, and offers an insight into the work already underway with welfare organizations to assist seafarers in need.Given Inmarsat’s position as the leading provider of maritime VSAT and L-Band services at sea, it is hardly surprising that we have been alert to the direct connection between coronavirus and surging demand for crew voice call and data services.

The state-owned enterprise Space Norway signed a NOK 618 million (USD 71.5 million) contract with Kongsberg Satellite Services (KSAT) for the delivery of ground station services to provide satellite-based broadband in the Artic.Space Norway owns 50% of Kongsberg Satellite Services (KSAT), a company that reads data from satellites that are observing the Earth from space.The contract is related to Space Norway’s newly announced cooperation with the satellite operator Inmarsat and the Norwegian Ministry of Defence to offer mobile broadband coverage in the Arctic.The two satellites related to this cooperation are scheduled to be launched by SpaceX in 2022.

KVH Industries, Inc., (Nasdaq: KVHI),  unveiled the TracPhone V3-HTS at the Fort Lauderdale (FL) International Boat Show. Measuring just 37 cm (14.5 inches) diameter and weighing 11 kg (25 lbs.), the TracPhone V3-HTS is smaller in physical size than any other Ku-band marine satellite communications antenna on the market and is designed to provide faster data speeds (5 Mbps download/2 Mbps upload) than larger marine satellite antennas.The TracPhone V3-HTS’s fast data speeds, combined with its diminutive size…

Orbit Communications Systems Ltd., a provider of precision tracking-based communications solutions and airborne communications management systems, announced that a global NGSO (Non-Geostationary Satellite Orbit) satellite operator placed a repeat order worth $645,000 for its OceanTRx 7-500 Ka-band maritime satellite communications platform. Delivery of the system, which will provide continuous broadband connectivity via satellite aboard cruise ships, is expected in 2017. “We put a lot into our relationships and deals like this prove it,” commented Eitan Livneh, Orbit’s CEO. OceanTRx 7 is a maritime satcom platform supporting a variety of 2.2-meter stabilized antenna system configurations in C, Ku, X and Ka bands.

Satellite-based connectivity has always played a critical role for the maritime sector. As the communications expectations of ship owners, passengers and crews continue to grow, maritime service providers are seeing a transformation in the type and quantity of applications that need to be supported at sea. The advent of VSAT broadband services is driving a shift away from traditional, low-level L-band connections that ship operators have relied upon for decades. VSAT services are preferred to respond to the demand for high-speed broadband that can support bandwidth-intensive applications.

Frank Coles, Transas CEO, has delivered a keynote speech calling for the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to set standards of compliance for the communication connections between ship and shore or else create a significant cyber security risk. The speech on Connected Ships & Cybersecurity was delivered at the Shipping Insight Fleet Optimization Conference which took place in Stamford, CT. on October 18-19. Cybersecurity is without a doubt a highly-debated topic in the maritime industry.

British satellite operator Inmarsat reported a rise in revenue in the second quarter, more than reversing a dip in the first quarter, as its customers used its broadband terminals to improve efficiency in tough shipping and energy markets. The company reported a 6 percent rise in second-quarter revenue to $330.4 million and a 22 percent rise in core earnings to $202.2 million on Thursday, and reiterated its target for full-year revenue. "It a very solid performance, despite the market being quite challenging," Chief Executive Rupert Pearce said in an interview on Thursday. Shares in Inmarsat, which have languished since it downgraded its full-year revenue forecast range by $50 million to $1.175-$1.250 billion in May, were trading up 1.6 percent at 793 pence by 0817 GMT.

KVH Industries has  announced  that Brent Bruun, currently executive vice president of mobile broadband for the company, has been promoted to the newly created position of chief operating officer (COO). In this position, Bruun will assume direct responsibility for KVH’s corporate development, as well as operational responsibility for mobile communications products and services for maritime and land markets. His purview as COO covers the customer lifecycle from sales and manufacturing through customer onboarding and on into long-term services, support, and customer retention.

It’s no coincidence that Class standard bearer DNV GL’s incoming group chief exec, Remi Eriksen, is a former telecoms engineer who knows his way around Houston (IT) and Singapore (yards). After all, the satellite communications industry understands shipping. The reverse should also be true. Speaking ahead of his first day as CEO, Eriksen describes a future of “fast ships and slow growth” — not bandwidth growth, mind you. Satellite operators, network providers and other vendors are eying broadband for Big Data transfers.

Supported by European Space Agency (ESA) funding, Inmarsat’s forthcoming Maritime Safety Data Service (MSDS) for FleetBroadband, delivers an increased data capability over the Inmarsat-4 network, including the Alphasat satellite, providing global coverage and the same reliability of over 99.9 per cent associated with the Inmarsat network. MSDS will continue to offer distress alerting, priority messaging and SafetyNET safety information broadcasts, but also deliver greater data capability than is currently available with Inmarsat C safety services. *All data accessed over MSDS to be captured and stored at new servers. Peter Blackhurst…

Inmarsat Maritime President Frank Coles said the efficiency gains of the “Maritime Industrial Internet” are at hand, if only shipowners can grasp the potential for competitive advantage. The first satellite in the Global Xpress fleet will complete all of its testing by July of this year, with the second and third satellites on schedule to be launched by the close of 2014. The Global Xpress Maritime service is expected to become globally available from the end of the first quarter of 2015.

Communications service provider MTN and global satellite operator SES have renewed a critical capacity agreement to deliver high-speed broadband to vital shipping routes throughout the Indian Ocean Region. In the interests of global demand for reliable communications and content services in the Indian Ocean, MTN has secured capacity on several transponders aboard SES’ NSS-12 satellite to offer reliable connectivity for applications as varied as the connectivity needs at sea. Corporate network services, passenger and crew communications and lifestyle entertainment offerings are being delivered to vessels travelling one of the world’s largest oceans and busiest shipping routes serving the African and Asian coasts and port cities in Australia and Antarctica.

SES inform that  OmniAccess, a leading VSAT service provider and network integrator in the luxury superyacht market, has signed a new Ku-band capacity deal on SES’ NSS-12 satellite to provide high-speed internet connectivity to superyachts in the Mediterranean, Black, Caspian and Arabian Seas. OmniAccess will utilise the capacity located at 57 degrees East to keep their customers connected anytime via the data, VOIP, video conferencing services that they offer. “As the superyacht industry continues to boom…

Telenor Satellite Broadcasting (TSBc), a European satellite operator, and iDirect, a company in satellite based IP communications, jointly announced that TSBc has chosen iDirect’s new Velocity product line as the ground infrastructure solution for its new THOR 7 high throughput satellite (HTS). Using iDirect technology, TSBc will deliver a Ka-band HTS payload of up to nine Gbps of throughput across 25 spot beams, providing capacity over the North Sea, Norwegian Sea, Mediterranean, Baltic Sea as well as the Middle East. TSBc chose the iDirect platform for several reasons. The platform will enable automatic, seamless spot-beam handover across all beams on the THOR 7 satellite, ensuring continuous mobile connectivity.