Marlink and SES Ink O3b mPOWER Deal

February 15, 2022

Yachting Journal

(Image: Marlink)

Marlink and SES have signed a multi-year, multi-million-euro deal enabling Marlink’s customers to access SES’s next-generation medium earth orbit constellation (MEO) -- O3b mPOWER.

Under the agreement, Marlink will offer the high-throughput and low-latency O3b mPOWER dedicated connectivity services to its customers with data-intensive requirements. These include its humanitarian, energy, enterprise, mining, government, maritime and OmniAccess’ superyacht customers who require robust communication networks with higher speeds and dedicated lower latency for their business operations in the most remote locations.

O3b mPOWER is built on the proven commercial success of SES’s first-generation O3b MEO constellation and is scheduled for launch in the coming months. When operational by end of 2022, O3b mPOWER will provide unprecedented flexibility, performance coverage, and scale to extend new, bandwidth-intensive network services and applications. The software-driven O3b mPOWER communications system is capable of delivering intelligent connectivity services from tens of megabits to multiple gigabits per second which will augment Marlink’s Smart Network solutions for its most demanding customers.

Marlink and SES have been partners for more than two decades, jointly delivering connectivity solutions to maritime users, humanitarian agencies, energy and mining companies, as well as enterprise, mobility and government customers around the world leveraging SES's widebeam and high-throughput GEO satellites, O3b constellation and teleport infrastructure.

Marlink, which operates a global VSAT network, said the new agreement will enable it to further enhance the capabilities of its hybrid network solutions and offer its customers with truly differentiated, flexible, reliable and secure connectivity solutions, optimized for every application, especially the ones requiring high-throughputs and low-latency.

Erik Ceuppens, CEO of Marlink Group, said, “At Marlink we are driven by technology progress and committed to bring the full power of a connected and digital world to our customers’ remote workplaces. This is why we are so excited to extend our long-term partnership with SES and to bring the game changing high-throughput low-latency capabilities of O3b mPOWER as part of Marlink’s Smart Network solutions to our most demanding customers in all our market verticals.”

Steve Collar, CEO of SES, said, “Fast, flexible connectivity represents an opportunity for all businesses – especially those operating in remote locations. Marlink’s customers understand the strategic need for excellent connectivity, and the value of digitalization. SES’s high-throughput, low-latency data connectivity represents a future-proof solution for these operators.”