While everyone is delighted to be coming out of the end of the COVID pandemic, there have been some unexpected developments for the satcoms 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 Telenor Satellite. “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. Telenor Satellite 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 Newtec 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 Optimization technology to our Anker Managed services further enhances our 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 Telenor Satellite’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 Newtec Dialog® solution to increase capacity and bandwidths in the North Sea region.

New generation of antennas

As well as the latest additions to its services, Telenor Satellite 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 Telenor Satellite’s clients in the offshore, fishing and merchant sectors, even in the harshest of environments.

“As end users become more discerning and products available to them more sophisticated, it is up to those of us supplying the connectivity to adapt our offering to answer the demands placed on us. Telenor Satellite is introducing new products and services that not only meet those needs but anticipate what will be coming down the line,” he concluded.