• Multi-year extension of initial 2019 agreement representing several hundred incremental Mhz
• Supporting expansion in Africa and the Middle East and extending coverage to Asia and the Americas

Eutelsat Communications  and Marlink, the Smart Network Company, have agreed to extend their Global Maritime Partnership, initially signed in 2019, to support expansion in Africa and the Middle East and to integrate the Americas and Asia into the portfolio of Eutelsat satellite capacity used by Marlink.

Marlink is the leading maritime VSAT operator in the world, with the best-in-class global maritime VSAT network and unrivaled market access all maritime segments: shipping, offshore, cruise/ferry, yachting and fishing. In partnership with Eutelsat, Marlink will further increase the capacity and coverage of its maritime VSAT network offering customers with truly differentiated, high-quality, reliable and secure connectivity solutions globally.

Marlink has made a multi-year commitment for GEO Ku-band capacity representing several hundred incremental Mhz on multiple Eutelsat satellites, covering the Americas, Asia, Africa and Europe to deliver targeted capacity with guaranteed levels of throughput to specific sailing areas.

This agreement also highlights the strong market demand for maritime broadband connectivity across all market segments, driven by a rising number of connected vessels and the surge of the unitary vessel bandwidth and data usage.

Commenting on the agreement, Erik Ceuppens, CEO of Marlink Group said:

We are delighted to extend our partnership with Eutelsat, which has proven its ability to deliver the right platform and capabilities to suit our target markets and the flexibility to accommodate our high standards with respect to the latency of voice traffic, capacity management and deployment flexibility.

Philippe Oliva, Eutelsat’s Chief Commercial Officer added:

We are hugely excited to deepen our relationship with Marlink, confirming Eutelsat as one of the go-to satellite network operators for maritime connectivity. We look forward to continuing to support Marlink as it rolls out its best-in-class service to seafarers in all segments of the maritime industry, with existing and future capacity on our fleet.