50 Mbps Satellite to be provided to Cruise Ships and Airliners

Some people in the UK might be struggling to achieve even 2 Mbps broadband speeds from their fixed line connections, but many people travelling across the world on planes and ships may soon be able to enjoy speeds of up to 50 Mbps thanks to the new range of Ka-Band satellites built to provide super fast internet to travellers.

The announcement was made as broadband ISP InmarSat signed a contract with Boeing for three of the new satellites.

It?s going to be a while before the service will be available however. The satellites will be part of a new installation called Inmarsat-5 (I-5) which will be put into orbit during 2014 as part of an entirely new telecommunications network. The projects development has so far cost nearly ?750 million to produce.

Andrew Sukawaty, Chairman of Inmarsat commented:

?This is a new investment for growth. With the Global Xpress network, we will be the first operator to offer global broadband coverage, offering unparalleled speeds and bandwidth to customers in remote locations around the world.

Global Xpress will be faster and less expensive than current Ku-band market offerings, it will be delivered to smaller and cheaper terminals and be the first offered on a seamless, global, end-to-end basis with high-quality of service. Picture 50Mpbs services to a ship or aircraft, and 10Mpbs to an antenna the size of an iPad (20cm).?

Previously InmarSat had only run a small scale service that offered speeds no greater than 0.5 Mbps, so this move is massive step up for the company. For those of us that don?t spend all that much time on cruises and airplanes though, another communications company, Avanti Communciations, should be launching its European satellite later this year which could provide speeds of up to 8 Mbps across the entire country.

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