In connectivity reliability and service matter not brand: Inmarsat

The rise of Starlink in shipping has been meteoric as companies adopt the Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite solution to provide high-speed, high-volume connections, particularly to meet crew connectivity demands.

Incumbents like Inmarsat put up a modest defence of their offerings, stressing the wider coverage and the service level agreements that make their slower connections suitable for business- and safety-critical applications. But as LEO connections spread, and Starlink became the byword for fast ship internet, Inmarsat looked to have little response.

“We’ve been going through a transaction, and inevitably we’ve not been able to move at the pace that we want,” Inmarsat Maritime President Ben Palmer told Seatrade Maritime News.

In May 2024, a year after the formal completion of the Viasat acquisition, Inmarsat announced NexusWave. A ‘bonded’ connectivity product spanning multiple networks including its Global Xpress (GX) Ka-band, L-band for resiliency, coastal LTE services when available, and Inmarsat’s first offering of LEO services.

Palmer said NexusWave will offer “really sophisticated network bonding capabilities that will provide a seamless, optimised service for people. They won't have to worry about the innards of which network they're on at any time. Customers want to know that they can get what they need, and that's what the service will deliver.”

Related:Second maritime LEO communications service launched by OneWeb

The NexusWave launch will be an agile and iterative process, said Palmer, expected to begin from around September 2024 with an MVP, which will be layered with additional capabilities over time, including a new ultra-high capacity, Ka-band solution on the horizon from parent company Viasat.

“The important thing is to get out into the market and renew our proposition. Customers are really excited about it. Some feedback has been ‘it’s about time too’, but there’s a real buzz about moving from cobbled together single solutions to a seamlessly orchestrated, intelligently managed, fully managed service.”

For the LEO component of its network-spanning product, Inmarsat will use capacity purchased from Ku-band LEO operator OneWeb, whose 634-satellite LEO constellation was completed in 2023. The door remains open to further LEO adoption in the future.

“We’ve signed one partnership deal with one provider, and we’re open in the future to looking at who else we might want to bring into the network, because as I say, customers are pretty agnostic about where the connection comes from, they want the right service,” said Palmer.

Related:Inmarsat and Aramco partner on over-water 5G mesh trial

Listen to a podcast earlier this year with Ben Palmer from Inmarsat

Starlink may have built brand recognition in shipping, but Palmer believes that the product and service is what matters. “Customers don’t care where the wiggly amps are coming from, but they do want to be clear that the people providing the service understand those wiggly amps.”

Palmer noted the cyber security experience Inmarsat holds from its long history in shipping, and the enterprise-grade cyber security capabilities taken for granted in other sectors of its business.

“Viasat is a $4.5bn corporation these days and around half of that is directed at serving governments, who have particularly stringent security requirements… people rely on us for their mission critical stuff and expect to be safe, secure, and properly looked after.

“All of the things that mariners want to watch and participate in online, unless that is properly wrapped and managed, it potentially opens up shipowners and operators to a cyber threat. We’re bringing our experience and heritage to take that seriously, wrap that multi-level, multi-layer network, and potentially take that problem away from a busy shipowner for whom this is not a big part of their day, but it is a massive dependency in terms of their ability to operate their ship effectively,” said Palmer.

A different approach to LEO

The Viasat acquisition may have made Inmarsat late to the LEO party, but it will be at the front of the queue for the next leap in geostationary satellite technology. ViaSat-3 will be a three-satellite network of ultra-high bandwidth units, one of which one is already in orbit, and another is due to enter into service in 2025.

The approach differs from LEO in many ways, not least of all the satellites themselves. The ViaSat-3 trio each weigh in at six tonnes compared to 150kg for a OneWeb satellite and around 260kg for a Starlink satellite. LEO satellites have a typical lifespan of around five years, while each ViaSat-3 unit is expected to stay in service for over 15 years.

“ViaSat-3 is going to give us LEO-comparable levels of service and capacity with the ability to direct that capacity to where it's most needed. Customers will soon find out when a network is very good where people don’t need it and not so good where they do. We think multilayer NexusWave, and our ability to point capacity to where it’s needed with ViaSat-3 is going to be an important part of our value proposition going forward,” said Palmer.

Upbeat on Inmarsat's position

Since taking up his role is President of Inmarsat’s maritime division in late 2021, Palmer has faced market-distorting new market entrants and the organisational realities of a multi-billion dollar company integration, but has remained upbeat on the satcomms market and Inmarsat’s position

“Demand for connectivity is growing exponentially, and we see that in our networks - I think that’s a good market to be in and we’re a major incumbent player.”

“The flipside of being in an attractive market is that it attracts people who think ‘I want a piece of that’. I personally enjoy being in a market that attracts well-heeled, charismatic investors. We continued to grow our FX fleet last year in terms of ship numbers, we continued to grow the business in revenue volumes.

“It's our job – as the incumbent who really understands the market, who's trusted and relied upon by all these folk – to make sure that we're on our metal, that we continue to innovate and respond to that competitive dynamic so that we continue to grow and ride the growth in the industry.”