Inmarsat Completes Construction of Global Xpress Ground Network

Inmarsat has completed construction of the final four satellite access stations (SAS) for its Global Xpress (GX) fleet.

This represents a significant milestone in the rollout of GX, the world's first, global high-speed broadband Ka-band network, which is scheduled for global commercial service introduction early in the second half of 2015.

GX Aviation will deliver 50Mbps broadband connectivity to both commercial and business aircraft. It is the only Ka-band network to provide consistent global coverage.

The new GX stations are located in Lino Lakes in Minnesota, USA; Winnipeg in Manitoba, Canada; with two sites near Auckland, New Zealand. Two further stations - in Fucino, Italy and Nemea, Greece - are already operational, servicing the first Global Xpress satellite that covers the Indian Ocean region.

All six GX SAS will act as gateways between the broadband traffic routed via the three Inmarsat-5 (I-5) satellites and terrestrial fixed networks.

Each SAS delivers full ground segment redundancy for GX services, delivering highest quality resiliency, reliability and availability, for example at times of adverse weather, and offering a powerful differentiator to traditional regional Ku-band networks.

Inmarsat has been providing GX services to government customers in the Indian Ocean region since 1 July 2014 and GX Aviation is on track to be available for airlines from mid-2015.

“Completing our ground network is an important step in rolling out our global GX service, which is on course to be in service by early in the second half of 2015,” said Leo Mondale, President, Inmarsat Aviation. “The inflight connectivity market is growing rapidly, with passengers around the world increasingly expecting to be connected when they are flying. And they want a comparable level of service to what they are used to on the ground. It is paramount airlines have access to high speed and high capacity connections that provide the same reliable service wherever they fly across the world. GX Aviation is the only global network that can provide seamless, high capacity Ka-band connectivity fit for purpose for airlines. The launch of GX globally in 2015 is perfectly timed to meet passenger and airline demand.”

The first satellite in the GX constellation I5F1 was launched late 2013. The remaining satellites are expected to be launched early in 2015.