Telecom NZ wins satellite deal with Inmarsat

Telecom New Zealand has picked up a contract to provide a regional satellite access station (SAS) for Inmarsat’s upcoming Global Xpress worldwide satellite broadband network.

Under the deal, Telecom NZ will establish and manage one of the Pacific Ocean region’s SAS facilities. It will achieve this by developing its existing Warkworth Satellite Earth Station near Auckland.

The facility will stand alongside Inmarsat’s own Land Earth Station and Teleport in Auckland as the co-primary SAS for the Pacific Ocean region. They will serve as gateways between satellite-routed broadband traffic and fixed broadband networks.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but satellite operator Inmarsat’s Global Xpress (GX) project has a total budget of US$1.2 billion ($1.28 billion).

GX will be the first global network on the Ka satellite band, capable of providing mobile broadband speeds of up to 50 Mbps on land, sea and air. It will be served by a fleet of three Inmarsat-5 satellites, which will be provided by Boeing.

Inmarsat Managing Director for Growth Management and Support Leo Mondale said the deal with Telecom NZ marks a milestone for the GX project.

“The sites for all six GX satellite access stations have now been selected and operational readiness is well advanced on the stations supporting our first Inmarsat-5 satellite serving the Indian Ocean Region, which we expect to launch around the turn of the year,” Mondale said.

The full constellation of three satellites is on track to be deployed by the end of 2014, he said.

Image courtesy of Timo Newton-Syms under CC