SES S.A. and Panasonic Avionics announced Thursday that they have signed two major, multi-year High Throughput Satellite (HTS) capacity agreements to provide inflight Wi-Fi and TV over the Americas.
News of the partnership between Luxembourg-based satellite operator SES and inflight entertainment and connectivity systems provider Panasonic Avionics came a day after the announcement that the former will be providing satellites SES-14 and SES-15 to Gogo in order to support enhanced inflight connectivity across the Americas, Caribbean and North Atlantic. The newly-reported contracts with Panasonic Avionics will also involve the two aforementioned satellites, representing their highest bandwidth commitment to date of high-powered HTS spot beam and wide beam Ku-band capacity.
Air passangers travelling throughout the continental U.S.A, Alaska, Hawaii, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean will recived access to next-generation inflight Wi-Fi and live television services on airlines, whilst the HTS capacity will also enable Panasonic Avionics to serve aeronautical, maritime and oil and gaw markets throughout the region.
"These major agreements are another step-change in the highly dynamic and buoyant aeronautical connectivity market," according to Ferdinand Kayser, Chief Commercial Officer at SES. "Our new high throughput satellites, SES-14 and SES-15, are poised to dramatically change the airline passenger experience and introduce a new era of inflight connectivity. SES-14 and SES-15 are designed for mobility, they are able to dynamically tailor power allocation and bandwidth to maximise capacity. This enables delivery to aircraft across different geographies and time zones. The design allows for easy transition from one region to another, from one gateway to another, and from one satellite to the other. the unique designs of both satellites include video broadcast beams which complement the spot beams, maximising throughput for Internet and video streaming traffic."
"With our communication service expanding rapidly across several vertical markets, we are always looking for innovative high throughput satellite designs that help us deliver the best connectivity service to our customers," added David Bruner, Vice President of Global Communications Services at Panasonic Avionics. "Working with SES, it was clear that their SES-14 and SES-15 satellites were the best option for us to supplement our existing HTS capabilities and ensure a true broadband experience over the U.S., Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean. Given their vision and conviction, Panasonic is evry excited to collaborate with SES, and we look forward to offering these ultra-high throughput services to our air transport, business aviation, oil and gas, energy and maritime markets in 2017."
Both satellites are expected to be launched in 2017.
Photo by SES
