Telenor Maritime is purchasing Finnish company KNL Networks and Telenor Satellite has approved two Intellian VSAT antennas for its regional VSAT communications
These agreements, involving four separate companies, will increase communications choice for maritime sectors including merchant shipping, offshore support, passenger ships and fishing.
Telenor Maritime provides connectivity to cruise, ferry and offshore industries. But it wanted to expand from these sectors, which were badly impacted by this year’s coronavirus pandemic.
In response, Telenor Maritime struck a deal to acquire 100% of the shares in KNL Networks, which provides data access to merchant ships through a secure mesh network.
“With this technology the merchant fleet’s missing link is finally in place,” said Telenor Maritime chief executive Lars Erik Lunøe. “Enabling a more sustainable and greener future in the maritime industry has taken a big leap forward with the acquisition of KNL Networks,” he added.
Telenor Maritime will offer end-to-end managed services, including data communications from KNL’s WaveAccess mesh network and its VSAT and mobile phone networks for the maritime market.
“This affordable technology provides the industry with an opportunity to utilise digitalised solutions,” said Mr Lunøe, “enabling them to make data-driven decisions, improve efficiency, gain competitive advantage, and work towards a greener, more sustainable future.”
Telenor Maritime serves more than 100 ship operators and 30M people on board more than 500 vessels and offshore installations worldwide.
In a separate arrangement, Telenor Satellite provided type-approval for Intellian’s v60Ka 2 and v100NX Ka antennas for operation over the Thor 7 geostationary satellite network.
These antennas are certified to operate within Thor 7’s Ka-band spot beams to deliver fast connectivity and high bandwidths to vessels, and come with a block up converter (BUC) of 5 W, with options to upgrade to 10 W for higher bandwidth on the uplink. The v60Ka 2 antenna weighs 39 kg and has a 65-cm diameter dish.
Intellian tuned the radome and reflector on v100NX Ka in anticipation of forthcoming 2.5GHz wideband Ka network services. It can be switched between Ku and Ka bands, enabling vessels with these installed in Ku-band mode to easily switch to Thor 7 Ka-band.
v60Ka 2 and v100NX Ka antennas are connected to a below-deck module, including Thor 7 modem with embedded mediators and antenna control units. These modulators enable easy configuration of a dual-antenna setup to avoid potential interference from a vessel’s superstructure.
Thor 7’s Ka-band mobility VSAT service covers key pan-European shipping routes throughout the Mediterranean Sea, North Sea, Red Sea, Norwegian Sea, Baltic Sea, Barents Sea and Middle East Gulf.
Connectivity is through up to 25 highly focused, simultaneously active spot beams enabling seamless handover with no loss of data or communications.
Ship communications through various networks and VSAT technology will be discussed during Riviera’s Vessel Optimisation Webinar Week, 7-11 December - use this link for more details and to register for these essential events
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