Delivering Quality of Experience for high bandwidth vessels and offshore installations is at the heart of Telenor Satellite’s drive to service the satellite communications needs of the growing European maritime market.

And while the cruise and ferry sectors look to recovery from the effects of the global pandemic, general maritime, offshore oil & gas and fishing sectors are upping their demand for high quality satcom services.

Since 2016, Telenor Satellite has provided a regional Ka-band VSAT service to maritime users over its THOR 7 satellite from its 1° West orbital location. It targets the North Sea, North Atlantic/ Norwegian Sea, Baltic Sea, Black Sea and the Mediterranean. THOR 7 is equipped with an HTS Ka-band payload, providing regional coverage with a favourable look angle over the main European shipping lanes. The satellite utilises relatively small spot beams, which provide unprecedented high-power performance for maritime applications.

Jan Hetland, Director of Data Services division at Telenor Satellite, said that thanks to Telenor Satellite’s partnership with ST Engineering, its offering of high throughput services is about to expand for ferries, cruise and OSVs in the summer of 2022. Currently available on Anker Ka-band, the Newtec Dialog® platform allows Telenor Satellite to offer services of up to 150/50Mbps.

He also added that the company’s recent decision to collaborate with XipLink Inc., the technology leader in Wireless Link Optimization, greatly enhances its Anker Managed Service offering. Xiplink’s Wireless Link Optimization capabilities will boost the customers’ quality of experience “through enhanced speed and reliability while also improving the economics/affordability of the Anker service connections”, he said.

Drawing on Telenor Satellite’s 14 years of partnership with iDirect and combining this with XipLink’s unique WAN optimization capabilities allows Telenor Satellite to serve the most demanding customers out there. The Xiplink WAN optimizer solution provides a greatly improved Quality of Experience for high-bandwidth vessels and offshore installations carrying large numbers of passengers and/or crew, Mr Hetland added.

Telenor Satellite’s portfolio of ‘Anker’ connectivity solutions is used in a variety of sectors, ranging from maritime mobility and oil and gas, to fixed land-based VSAT services. It’s pan European coverage up to 79° North is complemented with an extended coverage of the North Atlantic, Middle East, West Africa and the Caribbean.