Immarsat partner BSNL to offer high speed broadband on board airlines, ships
Premium- BSNL has received the necessary licenses to deliver the British company's Global Xpress mobile broadband services in India, the company said in a statement.
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NEW DELHI : British satellite telecommunication company Immarsat on Wednesday said that its strategic partner BSNL has got necessary approvals to offer high-speed mobile broadband services to Indian airlines and ships.
BSNL has received the necessary licenses to deliver the British company's Global Xpress (GX) mobile broadband services in India, the company said in a statement.
"Under BSNL’s Inflight and Maritime Connectivity (IFMC) licence from the Department of Telecommunications, GX will be available to Indian customers across government, aviation and maritime," it said.
"The announcement means that India’s airlines will be able to deploy GX for in-flight connectivity within India and throughout the world, while India’s commercial maritime companies will be able to enhance significantly the digitalization of their vessels for more effective ship operations and crew welfare services," it added.
While Immarsat already offered low-data services in India, the new licence to deliver Global Xpress (GX) mobile broadband services will allow it to offer faster “Ka-band" broadband on its GX network, news agency Bloomberg reported on Wednesday.
As things stand, companies like SpiceJet Limited and Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) has tied up with Immarsat to offer broadband services on board of its flights and ships.
No-frill carrier SpiceJet Ltd's Ajay Singh said that the airline is looking forward to offer GX mobile broadband services on board of its Boeing 737Max planes later this year.
"It will enable our customers to remain connected in the air as they do on the ground," Singh said in a statement.
According to Immarsat, it is launching seven more GX satellites, over the next three years, to add more capacity for its services. The GX gateway for India is located in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh.
“Today is a significant day for Inmarsat and our valued, long-term partnership with India, which was a signatory to the founding treaty establishing Inmarsat in 1979," Inmarsat chief executive officer Rajeev Suri said in a statement.
"Inmarsat is delighted to make the world’s only global high-speed mobile broadband Ka-band network available to the government and businesses in India through our partner BSNL," Suri added.
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