Aviation Broadband/Connectivity Maritime News Satellite

Inmarsat launches land, sea and air connectivity services in Saudi Arabia

Distributors Sada Al Ammah and Global Beam Telecom will work closely with Inmarsat’s maritime, aviation and enterprise businesses to roll-out the services in the region.
Khaled al Saleh (CITC), Abdullah Sulaiman (Sada), Neil Pringle (Inmarsat), Ronald Spithout (Inmarsat), Zeina Mokaddem (Inmarsat), Faris al Alam (CITC), Malik Sulaiman (Sada), Shabeer Mohammad (Global Beam Telecom)

Inmarsat, a provider of mobile satellite communications, has launched maritime, aviation and enterprise connectivity solutions to customers based in Saudi Arabia through new partner agreements.

The company additionally announced that it has secured new spectrum licences to deliver both its narrow-band (L-band) and high-capacity broadband (Ka-band), Global Xpress (GX), services in Saudi Arabia, enabling Saudi-based businesses to deploy these services for the first time.

Sada Al Ammah and Global Beam Telecom will work with Inmarsat’s enterprise business to bring its connectivity services to land-based users in the Middle East.

Inmarsat’s maritime business will partner with Sada Al Ammah to distribute connectivity services for merchant and offshore vessels operating in Saudi waters, with full access to Inmarsat’s Fleet Xpress services.

Inmarsat’s aviation business will work with Sada Al Ammah to deliver cockpit safety services and passenger cabin broadband Wi-Fi connectivity (GX Aviation for commercial airlines and Jet ConneX for business jets) to companies based in Saudi-Arabia. It will enable passengers to connect to the internet during their flights.

Inmarsat’s L-band network provides best-in-class connectivity services for users on land, at sea and in the air.  The network enables a wide range of use cases such as fleet management, remote analytics, data transfer and other IoT/M2M applications in areas with non-existent or unreliable connectivity. Focus areas for these use cases will include oil and gas, transport and aid and non-governmental organisations (NGO).

Commenting on the new services, Mike Carter, President of Inmarsat Enterprise, said: “We are delighted to be working closely with Sada Al Ammah and Global Beam Telecom to offer our world-leading services in Saudi Arabia and the region for the first time. Our partners have a wealth of experience and understanding of the local markets, which coupled with the strength and reliability of Inmarsat’s services, make a powerful combination that we feel will provide a foundation for connectivity excellence and growth in the region.”

Ronald Spithout, President, Inmarsat Maritime, remarked: “Saudi Arabian shipping and offshore companies have shown an increasing appetite for the latest digital services to improve operating efficiencies and Inmarsat is delighted to offer our Fleet Xpress service in Saudi and the region in conjunction with our partners, Global Beam Telecom, Sada Al Ammah and Master Systems. Owners now see the need for an ecosystem of value-added services to enable digitalisation, rather than just buying a Ku-band VSAT connectivity pipe. That’s why we are seeing demand for Inmarsat’s Fleet Data IoT platform, our Fleet Secure suite of cybersecurity services and our crew welfare and retention solution, Fleet Hotspot.”

Philip Balaam, President of Inmarsat Aviation, added: ”Saudi Arabia is a fast-growing and important market for aviation connectivity solutions. Inmarsat looks forward to working with commercial airlines in Saudi Arabia to enable them to upgrade to the world’s leading aviation connectivity solutions, covering high-speed inflight passenger broadband in the aircraft cabin and gold standard operations and safety in the cockpit.”

Further, Inmarsat’s recently-launched GX-5 satellite, which comes into commercial service in 2020, aims to meet the surging demand for high-capacity broadband across the skies and seas of Europe and the Middle East.