Telesat’s Telstar 12 Vantage satellite with antennas deployed. Photo: Telesat/Airbus Defence and Space

NSSLGlobal and Telesat announced a significant expansion in their relationship as NSSLGlobal has contracted a satellite transponder on Telesat’s Telstar-12 Vantage satellite. The additional capacity will allow NSSLGlobal to further enhance its VSAT IP@Sea, Cruise-IP and Broad-IP services, enabling the provision of more robust mobile broadband availability to passenger and merchant vessels navigating the African, Mediterranean and Northern European waterways.

The new agreement adds to the capacity NSSLGlobal already uses on Telesat’s Telstar 11N satellite at 37.5 degrees west, which NSSLGlobal uses to provide internet connectivity to the North Atlantic ocean, the United States and Africa. The high throughput Telstar-12 Vantage operates at 15 degrees west, providing superior coverage of Europe and Africa while bringing new capacity to high growth mobility markets in the Mediterranean and North Sea.

The expanded coverage over Africa includes Eastern and sub-Saharan countries as well as enhanced coverage into the Indian Ocean, where azimuth diversity is important for vessels that rely on satellite communications. The land coverage across Africa will help provide as an alternative to the T-11N Africa beam if customers require a fallback.

“The additional capacity from Telstar-12 Vantage now gives our VSAT IP@Sea and Cruise-IP users operating in this beam even greater broadband speeds, which alongside our recent acquisition of Snap TV will allow crew access to the latest Hollywood movies, sports and news,” said Sally-Anne Ray, group chief executive officer at NSSLGlobal.