LONDON – Global mobile satellite communications provider Inmarsat announced today it will deliver mobile broadband services to the Artic region via two new satellite payloads hosted on board Space Norway satellites.
This will augment recently announced satellites and will mean the company’s Global Xpress (GX) network “will provide the world’s only high-speed mobile broadband capacity dedicated to the Arctic region,” says the press release.
This doesn’t mean a new retail mobile broadband provider is coming to the far north, however, as the company primarily targets airlines, shipping and energy companies and governments.
“This new capability will be of key interest to the Canadian Navy’s ‘Internet At Sea’ morale and welfare program as well as the Canadian Air Force’s programs which require critical voice and data services to several remote military facilities in the Arctic,” outlines the release. “Additionally, all Canadian Coast Guard, Transport Canada and RCMP high arctic missions above 65° north will also be able to draw upon the strengths of these two new satellites to provide mission critical voice and high-speed data services in the most remote regions of the Canadian Arctic.”
It will also “enable Canadian government programs to extend their operations into the Arctic region through the provision of 24/7/365 access to voice and high speed data capability using existing Global Xpress terminal hardware,” reads the release.
Inmarsat’s new Arctic capabilities, when launched sometime in 2022, will further increase network flexibility and efficiency through multi-beam, high-throughput capacity that can be fully dialed up and down depending on customer demand in the region.
“Today, the North Pole represents one of the fastest growing areas of demand for high-quality mobile broadband capabilities. The current and future operational requirements of Canadian Government Departments such as Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Canadian Coast Guard, Transport Canada, Environment Canada and Department of National Defence in the High Arctic were taken into consideration by Inmarsat when this program was initially undertaken,” reads the release.
“Building on Inmarsat’s current GX capabilities up to and beyond the 75th parallel North, the new GX Arctic payloads will improve network performance by flying directly overhead, providing GX antennas with much higher elevation angles to optimize throughput.”
