Inmarsat to enhance Canadian Navy’s communications

Inmarsat has announced that its FleetBroadband and new Assured Access service will be deployed to the Canadian Navy under a Shared Services Canada (SSC) contract, bringing worldwide coverage to 29 Canadian naval vessels.

The contract to provide these services to the Canadian government is now under the responsibility of SSC. The Canadian government established SSC in August 2011 to consolidate its data centers, telecommunications and email systems.

According to Inmarsat, deployment of these services to the Canadian Navy started in October 2012. FleetBroadband will provide the ships with global broadband connectivity while at sea – for email, internet and data services and voice communications. 

Access service grants government customers priority access to Inmarsat satellite network resources via their Subscriber Identification Modules (SIMs). According to the company, Assured Access subscribers are ‘guaranteed a specific grade of FleetBroadband, Broadband Global Area Network (BGAN) or SwiftBroadband service within pre-defined geographic areas, thereby assuring capacity and network access will be available during contingencies and crises’.

Andy Start, president of Inmarsat Global Government, said: ‘This deployment demonstrates our ability to meet the rapidly evolving communications requirements of one of the world’s most advanced naval forces. We are grateful for this continued confidence to meet the Canadian government’s exacting performance criteria, and to deliver the critical communications capabilities they need.’