Inmarsat Global Express go after final satellite launched

2015-09-02

After numerous delays, Inmarsat’s Global Xpress (GX) service has finally been fully established after the third satellite, F-3, was successfully launched into orbit from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, over the weekend.

Touted by Inmarsat as a step change in broadband connectivity at sea, the GX programme is set to provide short-wavelength Ka-band services to all but the polar regions, enabling anything up to 50 megabits per second (mbps) through its network of resellers.

However, the project has been beset by failures thanks to the unreliability of the Proton Breeze-M rockets selected to carry its $1.6bn satellites. But following the final procedures to transfer the satellite into geostationary orbit, as well as deployment of the solar panels and testing of the payload, the new GX service, is set to go fully online.

“Global Xpress will deliver broadband speeds that are an order of magnitude faster than our fourth generation (I-4) constellation, to customers on the move on land, at sea and in the air, globally. Global Xpress is, therefore, an important enabler for continued growth in global mobile broadband - it is the ‘Internet of Everywhere’."

Source from : Seatrade Global

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