Boeing said it has been working with Artel and potential customers and users to develop Ka-band powered satellite communications solutions for unique applications.

   “The first collaboration will be followed by additional offers to provide unique end-to-end commercial satellite services to U.S. government and commercial customers,” Boeing said in a company statement. “Inmarsat-5 global satellite communications will be available starting in late 2013, and users will be able to conduct compatibility testing on their terminals starting in the middle of that year.”

   The latest Inmarsat government bandwidth partnership stems from a $1 billion deal that the MSS operator signed with Boeing in August 2010 to build three Ka-band satellites for its Global Xpress program. As part of that deal, Boeing was named Inmarsat’s distribution partner for both its Ka-band and L-band services.

Boeing also pre-committed to capacity purchases representing more than 10 percent of Inmarsat’s target Ka-band revenues in the first five years after global service launch.