COSL upgrades communications on semi-submersible drilling rigs 

Sigma’s intelligent path selection, application steering, link prioritisation and load balancing connects these drilling rigs to COSL data centres, to support vessel-to-headquarters communications, remote operations and daily operational workflows.

“The addition of Starlink’s high-throughput [HTS] antennas offers gigabit speeds, significantly improves throughput and latency, enhances rig efficiency, and supports both operation users and crew welfare,” said Mr Kalsto.

COSL Drilling Europe operates 2010-built COSLPioneer, 2011-built COSLInnovator, 2012-built COSLPromoter and 2014-buit COSLProspector in northern Europe and offshore New Zealand. In September 2025, all four of these drilling rigs were operating in Norway.

Starlink’s Global HTS involves bonding multiple kits which use dedicated network resources and beam capacity over the LEO constellation down to the remote site’s cell.

According to Speedcast, this results in reduced packet loss, decreased latency and improved throughput by prioritising user demand and load balancing across satellites.

During live testing of four Starlink kits on HTS, Speedcast achieved peak rates of 1.6 Gbps downstream and 400 Mbps upstream, with individual kits achieving peaks of 400 Mbps down and 100 Mbps up.

Speedcast said upload speeds in this configuration consistently delivered with combined packet loss across multiple kits not exceeding 0.55%, even under sustained periods of network saturation.