Astrium Services widens maritime VSAT bandwidth, services, coverage

Astrium Services made it known that the major extensions to their worldwide VSAT satellite communications services have been completed. The Company can now provide greater bandwidth, more services, and the broadest commercially-available global coverage through a larger number of small maritime VSAT antenna.

Back in September 2012, Astrium Services announced that it has improved the coverage and service of its Pharostar, Sealink, and Wavecall brands. The three Astrium maritime VSAT services use iDirect technology to meet the maritime market's need for high-performance broadband connectivity.

Astrium had boosted data throughput speeds for both standardized VSAT systems and the Sealink custom solutions. Standard very small aperture terminals can reach 3 Mbps while Sealink solutions can hit up to 10 Mbps. This means faster data transfers and more cost-efficient connections for maritime vessels who use Astrium services.

The improved speeds of Astrium VSAT services will be able to provide fast and always-on connectivity to maritime applications such as Internet from satellite access, email, voice calls, fax and SMS, database backup, video and file transfer protocol for business and crew communications.

In addition, Astrium has completed its geographical coverage extensions over the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) in October 2012. The Company expects to extend its services to the southern part of the Atlantic Ocean before the year ends. Astrium VSAT service customers will automatically receive coverage in the new areas. 

The Astrium services can also be combined with both Ku-band and complimentary MSS connectivity, allowing the maritime vessel to stay connected even outside VSAT coverage zones. Another optional is the Vizada XChange control platform, which can enhance the VSAT extension through its remote fleet management services.

NigComSat partners with iDirect for VSAT upgrade

Nigerian Communications Satellite Ltd (NigComSat) signed a contract with satellite communications company iDirect to improve the African satellite network operator's VSAT systems.

According to Satellite Toda, iDirect announced on July 9 that it would deploy both its new Series 15100 Universal Satellite hub and an Evolution-based service in Nigeria for NigComSat.

NigComSat’s current VSAT solutions handles the needs of both military and government customers. iDirect's Evolution platform will open new and profitable markets in enterprise and education in addition to improving the efficiency and bandwidth of existing VSAT customers.

In addition, Evolution provides NigComSat with a scalable platform that can easily switch between TDMA and SCPC return channels. NigComSat will have the ability to adjust its service levels depending on the current dynamic applications and changing traffic patterns. This ability will allow NigComSat to better tailor its services to customers, which saves money and increases the effectiveness of their satellite broadband service.

According to CEO T. Ahmed-Rufai, NigComSat believed that high-speed Internet would transform the Nigerian economy. NigComSat partnered with iDirect to implement an affordable satellite communications network that can easily accomodate the increasing broadband penetration in West Africa. Thanks to iDirect's Evolution platform, NigComSat will be able to provide a satellite broadband service capable to matching the often-contrasting requirements of numerous -and different- customers.