The U.K.’s Space Daily portal has reported that Inmarsat and Telespazio (News - Alert) are partnering to jointly develop mobile satellite services (MSS) for the energy and machine-to-machine (M2M) sectors in the European region. As per the report, MSS services have long been an established part of the communications mix in the energy sector, frequently operating in areas that are remote from fixed-line and wireless networks.
By collaborating on specific projects, Inmarsat (News - Alert) and Telespazio are planning to enhance their services and product offerings for these sectors, especially in the growing areas of M2M and remote applications, says the report.
In fact, both the companies recently demonstrated their mobile and fixed broadband capabilities for the oil and gas sector at the recent Offshore Europe Conference and Exhibition, which took place in Aberdeen (News - Alert), Scotland. It included Inmarsat's portable BGAN, BGAN Link, BGAN M2M services and terminals. In addition, Inmarsat also displayed its next generation, high-speed, mobile broadband satellite service, Global Xpress (GX), which is planned for global availability starting 2015, reports Space Daily.
According to this report, the mobile and fixed broadband capabilities demonstrated indicate that the partners have the ability to tailor connectivity services that can be used throughout the various phases of the oil and gas project lifecycle. This will help introduce operational efficiencies while bringing fields on-stream quicker and at a lower cost.
"It is an additional opportunity to further improve the successful long-term relationship between the two companies in the Satcom market, representing as well a unique guarantee for energy sector customers for reliable, up to-date and high quality solutions provisioning," said Marco Brancati, senior vice president of BU Networks and Connectivity of Telespazio SpA.
Likewise, the president of Inmarsat Enterprise, Ronald Spithout, said, "The significance of our two companies working together on new offerings will provide important benefits for the energy sector. It opens up new possibilities for both companies."