Eutelsat And Speedcast Announce The Launch Of A New Global Maritime Broadband Service

 26 March 2008

On the occasion of Asia Pacific Maritime, Eutelsat Communications and SpeedCast announce they are jointly launching a new maritime broadband communications service addressing the commercial shipping sector. The partnership between both companies brings together expertise from Eutelsat, one of the world’s largest satellite operators and SpeedCast, a major satellite communications service provider in Asia, wholly owned by AsiaSat, the leading regional satellite operator in Asia.

The new service will serve key shipping routes using Ku-band satellite capacity, mostly on Eutelsat and AsiaSat satellites. In addition to a fixed flat fee per ship, irrespective of usage, the system will provide an improved customer experience by automatically switching from one satellite coverage beam to another with no manual intervention. A major innovation of the service is the use of small one metre stabilised satellite antennas. Compared with currently used 2.4 metre C-band systems, the Ku-band antennas will reduce equipment costs by more than 50% and the space occupied on deck by more than 60%.

Eutelsat and SpeedCast, together with distribution partners, are principally targeting operators of merchant shipping and fishing fleets who wish to integrate enhanced on-board applications in order to optimise productivity and improve crew welfare. The service will enable secure offshore Virtual Private Networks to be established with land-based offices so that a ship in effect becomes a mobile office fully integrated into an overall network. The provision of additional services to crew such as Internet access, GSM connectivity, Video-on-Demand and IPTV services could also be carried through the same satellite connection.

SpeedCast CEO, Pierre-Jean Beylier said: "We are very happy to be launching this new global Ku-band service together with Eutelsat to address some of the key issues that the shipping industry is currently facing, such as crew retention and extension of corporate applications to ships. Eutelsat and SpeedCast’s service combines Internet access and VoIP for the crew, and secure VPN capabilities with guaranteed bandwidth for mission critical corporate applications. The ship really becomes a mobile office with an always-on broadband connection and unlimited usage for a monthly fixed fee, as we are used to onshore." Arduino Patacchini, Eutelsat Multimedia Director commented: "We are very excited to expand beyond our strong and well-established suite of D-STAR maritime services and regional footprint towards a worldwide coverage through this partnership with SpeedCast. This new offer enables us to respond to the maritime community and to crew who will be able to be connected to family and friends at any time. It also opens the door to new applications. Achieving these objectives with a small one metre antenna on a global basis marks a real step forward."

The service will be provided via a 24/7 Network Operations Centre operated by SpeedCast in Hong Kong connecting with a network of teleports, including SpeedCast’s Hong Kong teleport and the Turin teleport operated by Eutelsat’s broadband affiliate, Skylogic.