TS2 awarded a contract for the supply of 150 satellite phones to the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The equipment is intended to secure communication in the event of emergency and the phones will be provided to Polish ambassadors and consuls across the world. Diplomats frequently visit regions where no conventional mobile telecommunication system is available. Now they can use satellite connections ensuring global coverage and safety.

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We have seen this trend for a long time, Fleet Manager Frank Bjoernsen says. A few years ago customers were more cautious and only deployed a small number of PCs when the SEVSAT satellite communication was installed. One in the wheelhouse, one in the machine room and maybe one in the mess. This has changed for a number of reasons. Many customers are installing WiFi networks and allow a higher number of PCs on board, both for operational and personal use. One reason is they have deployed on-board IT systems that require to be online with the land office. Problem solving by sending pictures of damaged equipment to vendors has become a popular way of getting acceptance of the problem and a quick response from the suppliers. Others file applications for port access and complete procedures to comply with environmental requirements before entering restricted waters. To ensure bandwidth for operational use the networks can be split in an operational and a crew network with separate bandwidth allocations.

The initial caution was due to their previous experience with pay by the Megabyte type solutions that quickly could accumulate a high communications bill Mr Bjoernsen says. Now they experience that the SEVSAT bill stays close to fixed, only varying slightly according to telephone usage, which with rates starting at 0.08 USD does not add a lot to the fixed bill. Besides, a lot of ships have limited the telephone to operational use and letting the crew pay for the their personal use through the Prepaid Crew Calling solution from Ship Equip. That way the monthly cost for all practical purposes stays within a narrow window Bjoernsen adds.

When you look at the figures in detail the ships are really not paying much for what they get with SEVSAT: At 19.7 GigaByte and a typical monthly bill of USD 3500 the price per MB corresponds to paying the very low 0.175 USD or seventeen and a half cent. Although we see a shift towards 256 Kb/s and have a number of contracts that go into the Megabits, the largest proportion of our customers have the 128Kb/s-128 Kb/s contract and still communicate 10 – 15 GB per month. So the growth in data transmission volumes are not attributed to high bandwidth users raising the average Mr Bjoernsen states.

With the higher usage we have added capacity to our networks Bjoernsen continues: We monitor bandwidth usage and when the utilization reaches 70% within a segment of ships using SEVSAT satellite broadband we add more bandwidth to always have a margin for growth and to handle peaks. After all we want to make sure customers get what they are paying for he concludes.

Frank Bjoernsen is Fleet Manager at Ship Equip Group and is in charge of keeping the network operative at any time. Here he is overlooking the various status monitors showing satellites, land lines and traffic statistics for selected segments.

In a new report, “Maritime Telecom Solutions by Satellite: Global Market Analysis & Forecasts,” Euroconsult provides an in-depth view of the dynamics determining growth in the maritime sector, along with analysis and forecasts for the maritime satcom market. The report also offers a detailed review of the merchant shipping, fishing, passenger ship, leisure vessel and offshore segments. The breakdown between MSS and VSAT is explored through each of these sections.

“Increasing onboard bandwidth requirements are driving the maritime market in a direction that is beneficial to satellite communications,” said Pacôme Revillon, CEO of Euroconsult. “Real-time monitoring, remote diagnostics, maintenance, route planning and electronic port declaration are just a few of the applications generating huge capacity demand at sea.”

Euroconsult said the number of terminals used for global maritime satellite communications grew at around 11% in 2009, while wholesale capacity revenues from the sector increased more than 15%. The total size of the market reached about 295,000 active terminals in 2009 that generated more than $1.3 billion in revenues at the tier-1 service provider level. Established MSS services and the emerging VSAT business both contributed to the overall growth of the maritime satellite communications market.

Despite a drop in global maritime activity due to declining economic conditions, increasing demand for operational bandwidth aboard ships as well as Internet connectivity required by crews and passengers have been driving growth. One VSAT provider cited in the report said customers’ monthly data transmission per ship increased from 9.1 gigabytes in April 2009 to 19.7 gigabytes in April 2010.

The global market has been growing rapidly since 2005, with a 14% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in satellite capacity revenues; nearly 4% CAGR in the equipment sales; and 8% CAGR for the global tier-1 service providers.

The fastest growth – 24% annually since 2005 — has been for VSAT services. While VSAT services are not compliant with safety communications needs, they are the mainstay of crew communications and satisfy the increasingly demanding passenger communications needs aboard cruise ships and luxury yachts. Traditional MSS services that operate in the L-band at lower data rates than VSAT terminals (using the C- and Ku-bands) still allow for smaller and cheaper equipment and remain important for safety communications and regulatory obligations. MSS accounted for 97% of the maritime terminals in 2009, but only 52% of service revenues. Euroconsult projects that by 2020, the VSAT market will account for the majority of satellite-based maritime communications revenues generating close to $1 billion in revenues for service providers in 2020.

The report also suggests that the proliferation of new Ka-band based services, which allow much faster upload and download speed than either traditional VSAT or MSS, could expand the maritime market further. Inmarsat, the largest MSS operator, has recently announced the contract for a new constellation of three Ka-band satellites planned to be operational by 2014/2015.

Euroconsult predicts that the maritime satcom market will grow at a healthy rate over the next decade, but not as rapidly as in recent years. Total maritime satcom terminals are expected to grow at a CAGR of about 6% over 2010-2020 while maritime satellite service provider revenues should grow at around 4% annually over the same period, with revenues somewhat impacted by decreasing equipment revenues.

SkyVision VPN is a satellite-based virtual private network service that allows organizations to connect their WAN sites, making it possible to share information and collaborate via voice and data applications. The new local hub in Nairobi enables SkyVision to provide low-latency solutions, connecting corporate headquarters to the hub by terrestrial link, thus ensuring optimal function of enterprise applications.

In addition to enhanced enterprise collaboration, SkyVision’s VPN service over the new local hub offers corporate customers a scalable solution that easily keeps pace with network growth, along with customized solutions supported by the company’s attentive local presence.

“SkyVision’s VSAT-based network is more cost-effective than any alternative on the market, simply because it offers the best combination of price, reliability and management control,” said Mark Gazit, President & CEO of SkyVision. “The issue of latency is critical to enterprise effectiveness. Local hubs for corporate enterprise solutions – along with local customer support – represent a key element of SkyVision’s broader values and strategy.”

The installation of 300 satellite broadband connections HELLAS SAT NET! at 300 schools in Albania respectively is under completion these days. These are installed by the subsidiary company of OTE, HELLAS SAT, and the company STARSAT of Albania. This project, which is coordinated by the Prime Minister’s Office of Albania, concerns the installation of computer networks and broadband connections at all the schools of primary and secondary education of Albania. Main contractor of the project is the Albanian Telecommunications Organization, Albtelecom, with subcontractor the company STARSAT, which installs the broadband connections HELLAS SAT NET! at remote Albanian towns, such as Argyrokastro, Tepeleni, Avlona, Dyrrachio, Korytsa, as well as at villages around the capital city Tirana.

CETel has also installed Newtec’s EL170 IP Satellite Modulator, EL970 IP Satellite Demodulator equipment based on FlexACM(R) technology enabling advanced and most efficient output for broadband Internet services for a major telecommunication provider in Africa. CETel chose Newtec’s DVB-S2 FlexACM technology to reduce bandwidth costs and increase revenue.

“The installation of the Newtec infrastructure has been the culmination of our drive to deliver higher quality and greater efficiency in our services,” says Sergey Raber, Director Operations, CETel. “With the implementation of FlexACM, we can now achieve far more with our bandwidth, and guarantee availability of the link under conditions that would otherwise have caused a service failure. This increased efficiency has resulted in a return on investment within a few months of operation.”

The next day after delivering the satellite into orbit, the communication session via space between Moscow and Vladivostok was performed in the Soviet Union for the first time. B.E. Chertok, one of the immediate participants of developing the satellite, recalls in his book “Rockets and people. Hot days of the cold war”. “W
e checked the operation of the whole communications complex on the Moscow – Vladivostok line with the passion of gamblers that were lucky after a streak of bad luck. We so much wanted to show the 1st May demonstration and the parade on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Great victory in World War 2 to the Far East and the marine parade of the Pacific navy in Vladivostok to Moscow. And we made it!”

Since 1967 the TV signal translations via Orbita system using the domestic spacecraft of Molniya-1 series became regular. To meet the tasks of establishing communications channels and distributing the state TV&Radio programs through the satellite communications satellite systems, the Union’s TV&Radio Communications Center No.9 was founded in February 1968. With the time it became the main state operator of the space constellation of communications satellites – the Russian Satellite Communications Company.

Besides its network switching function, the EASTAR™ satellite router can be effectively used as a satellite modem to set up dedicated high-speed communication links or data broadcasting networks. Unlike standard DVB-S2 modems, EASTAR™ equipment is a full-fledged router that brings together a range of services into a single channel, providing the necessary quality of service (QoS).

The DVB-S2 compliant, inexpensive and feature rich solution offered by EASTAR™ will allow telecom operators to significantly cut their operational costs, or free up some resources to implement their new projects as DVB-S2 allows for efficient use of satellite bandwidth and reduces the amount of required capacity up to 30% compared with DVB-S.

EASTAR™ VSAT platform has proven to be a reliable and cost-effective solution to connect remote base stations of mobile operators, to establish regional networks and international long-distance channels. The EASTAR™ router supports a wide range of speeds from 540 kbps up to 88 Mbps, which are available to users without any commercial constraints. Testing equipment in the SCPC/DVB-S2 mode proved compliance with the industry standard and demonstrated the minimum delay across the link at various speeds.

New software can be remotely installed on EASTAR™ satellite routers that were purchased by users earlier using built-in upgrade tools. EASTAR™ has once again proved its versatility, developing its VSAT platform functionality through the software update.

The Galaxy 15 satellite has been drifting across the North and disrupting the services of other satellites since Intelsat lost control of it in April. In this photo, satellite’s manufacturers, Orbital Sciences Corporation in Dulles, Virginia, prepare the satellite for its launch in 2005. – photo courtesy of Orbital Sciences Corporation

Sunny Patch, corporate communications manager with NorthwestTel, said Galaxy 15, as the rogue satellite is called, could interfere with transmissions this October from the satellite her company uses, the Anik F2 satellite, which provides Internet, phone and cable television services in 25 communities in Nunavut and 10 in NWT.

But it will not affect Yellowknife because the city’s wireless services are provided through a fibre optic cable that runs to Yellowknife from High Level, Alta.

“With any luck, it’ll be dead by then,” said Dianne VanBeber, vice-president of Investor Relations for the Baltimore-based company Intelsat, which owns Galaxy 15.

The satellite was launched in 2005. It weighs 4,171 lbs and cost about $250 million. The satellite was damaged in early April and stopped responding to operational commands from Intelsat, which tells the satellite whether to stay in one place or to move somewhere else, said VanBeber. Now the satellite is drifting eastward across the Arctic.

Galaxy 15 is also not responding to commands that will tell the company how it was damaged or what is wrong with it. The Galaxy 12, launched in 2003 as a reserve satellite, has taken over communication transmission responsibilities from the Galaxy 15. But the Galaxy 15 is still sending television cable broadcasting signals to Earth, and as it drifts across the Arctic, it will disrupt the services of other satellites that cross its path.

VanBeber compared the situation to two mirrors reflecting the same image as one passes the other.

“If you’re looking at a mirror, it’s sending its image back to you,” she said. “But if another mirror came around the top of that mirror and was passing by, that would also reflect the image you were sending back as well. When you have two different signals coming down, that creates the interference,” she said.

VanBeber hopes the satellite will either re-boot and start functioning normally again or stop functioning altogether by the time it is supposed to pass by Anik F3 on Sept. 9.

That’s a possibility because the satellite’s components will eventually point away from the Earth and toward the sun. If this happens, the satellite’s solar panels will be unable to track the solar rays, causing the satellite to lose power and shut down.

The satellite’s manufacturers figure this could happen anytime between now and Sept. 9. If it does stop functioning permanently, the satellite won’t fall from the sky and crash into earth. Rather, it will remain in space as “orbital debris.”

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“The launch vehicle Proton-M, which was blasted off at 4.53 am Moscow time on Thursday from the Baikonur spaceport by the upper stage rocket DM within a period between 8.26 am and 9.12 am Moscow time put three satellites GLONASS-M on the designated orbit,” spokesman for the Space Troops Lieut. Col. Alexei Zolotukhin told Itar-Tass. “The separation of satellites was made as scheduled. The stable communication with the satellites was established and is being maintained. The satellite onboard systems are operating well,” he noted.

“The placement of each of three satellites in the designated point of the orbit will be made thanks to the engine switch-on,” a source in the Federal Space Agency (Roskosmos) said. “New satellites should be made operational fully for 45 days since the launch moment,” the source said. The satellites will operate on the circular orbits at an altitude of 19,100 kilometers and with the inclination angle of 64.8 degrees.

The Thursday launch is seeking to build up the GLONASS orbital grouping. According to the Machine Building Central Research Institute, “The orbital grouping included 23 satellites, 21 of which on the designated mission and two in the orbital reserve” as of September 1, 2010.

At least 18 operational satellites, 24 satellites on the global scale, are needed for the constant GLONASS signal on all the territory of Russia.

The launch was specific, because the GLONASS orbital grouping includes 26 satellites for the first time in the last few years. However, the target level of 24 operational satellites has not been reached yet. “Two satellites are planned to be made operational and one satellite will be added to the orbital reserve group” 45 days after the launch, the Roskosmos source said. Thus, 23 satellites will be used on their designated mission and three satellites will make up the orbital reserve by October 17.

The GLONASS satellites will be placed on the orbits in three projections taken apart in 120 degrees from each other, at least eight satellites in each projection. The payload of the satellite GLONASS-M is 1,415 kilograms. Its service life is seven years.

The civil GLONASS satellites are designed to provide the constant navigation signal, which can detect the highly accurate coordinates and the speed of any moving object equipped with GLONASS receivers. The GLONASS orbital grouping resolves the missions for Russian security.

The GLONASS system was initially put into operation in the interest of the Defence Ministry in September 1993 with the limited orbital grouping of 12 satellites. In December 1995 the orbital grouping was deployed to the scheduled strength of 24 satellites, however it was cut again due to underfinancing. On February 18, 1999, the Russian president decreed the GLONASS system as a dual-purpose system. In December 2005 Vladimir Putin instructed Roskosmos and the Defence Ministry to speed up the restoration of the GLONASS orbital grouping.

Before the end of 2010 Roskosmos is planning to orbit four more navigation satellites GLONASS-M and one new-generation satellite GLONASS-K.