Satcom companies can do well if they are prepared to adapt - even in times of uncertainty.
While everyone is delighted to be coming out of the end of the COVID pandemic, there have been some unexpected developments for the satcom sector.
“It was always too much to hope that supply and demand would return to pre-COVID levels so quickly, so we simply didn’t anticipate some of the growth we have seen,” said Jan Hetland, Director, Data Services at Space Norway. “Passenger vessels were particularly hard hit by the pandemic, and we expected a slow return in our cruise and ferry client base but in fact demand has outstripped our expectations.”
The Norway based company has seen a surprising increase in demand for speed of connectivity and bandwidth from end users who appear to have developed ingrained internet habits. Space Norway has been delivering high quality connectivity and services to the maritime sector as far as 79° North, taking in the North Atlantic, the Nordics, Mediterranean, and regions in Africa and the Caribbean, and has been looking at ways to expand its offering throughout 2022.
New services to improve performance
He continued: “Over the years, we have built up an excellent working partnership with ST Engineering iDirect, so we are delighted to add their Dialog platform to our Anker Ka-band service portfolio, which allows us to provide services of up to 150/50Mbps. This offering has now been extended to our Ku-band, so that even more of our clients can benefit from its superior performance in terms of speed and bandwidth.
“The recent addition of Xiplink™ Wireless Link Optimisation technology to our Anker Managed services further enhances our satcom service through best-in-class acceleration coupled with integrated QoS shaping. Both these additions are particularly useful for our passenger vessel clients who may have thousands of users wanting to access bandwidth at the same time and without any loss of performance. “
It isn’t only the passenger ship sector that has surprised. The energy sector has also undergone some changes with the onset of the conflict in Ukraine. Many of Space Norway’s clients have not only cancelled planned downgrades in their requirements but have opted for upgrades to their existing sites. We see a renewed increase in exploration and new project development in offshore Oil & Gas, as well as a surge in activity within the offshore renewables sector, and the company is again opting for the Dialog solution to increase capacity and bandwidths in the North Sea region.
New generation of VSAT antennas
As well as the latest additions to its satcom services, Space Norway has also just announced the recent approval of the new generation of the SAILOR XTR 1m and 65cm antennas from Cobham Satcom. These are robust and powerful antennas which will secure reliable connectivity for the many applications used by Space Norway’s clients in the offshore, fishing and merchant sectors, even in the harshest of environments.
