Marisa Garcia Satellite operator SES S.A. and Panasonic Avionics have announced two multi-year, High Throughput Satellite (HTS) capacity agreements which will serve aeronautical, maritime, and oil and gas markets across the Americas.
These contracts will allow Panasonic access to SES-14 and SES-15 satellites, and represent the company’s largest boost of bandwidth capacity to date, through high-powered HTS spot beam and wide beam Ku-band. SES’s HTS coverage can deliver next-generation high-speed inflight Wi-Fi and live television to routes throughout North America, Hawaii, Mexico, and the Caribbean.
“These major agreements are another step-change in the highly dynamic and buoyant aeronautical connectivity market,” said Ferdinand Kayser, Chief Commercial Officer of SES.
“Our new high throughput satellites, SES-14 and SES-15, are poised to dramatically change the airline passenger experience and introduce a new era of inflight connectivity,” Kayser added. “SES-14 and SES-15 are designed for mobility; they are able to dynamically tailor power allocation and bandwidth to maximise capacity. This enables delivery to aircraft across different geographies and time zones. The design allows for easy transition from one region to another, from one gateway to another, and from one satellite to the other. The unique designs of both satellites include video broadcast beams which complement the spot beams, maximizing throughput for Internet and video streaming traffic. Both satellites will be launched in 2017.”
David Bruner, Vice President of Global Communications Services at Panasonic Avionics said, “With our communications service expanding rapidly across several vertical markets, we are always looking for innovative high throughput satellite designs that help us deliver the best connectivity service to our customers. Working with SES, it was clear that their SES-14 and SES-15 satellites were the best option for us to supplement our existing HTS capabilities and ensure a true broadband experience over the U.S., Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean.”
