ITC Global, a subsidiary of Panasonic Avionics Corporation and a leading provider of satellite communications to remote and harsh environments, announced today that it has signed a multi-year agreement with Applied Satellite Technology Ltd. (AST) as a Value-Added Reseller to enable provisioning of connectivity solutions via Panasonic's high-throughput satellite (HTS) network. The agreement will establish delivery of unprecedented levels of capacity and performance to a broader set of customers across the global maritime and land mobility markets.
AST has secured access to Panasonic's global network coverage, which includes both existing and contracted HTS capacity. Panasonic maintains the world's largest HTS Ku-band network in the world, which leverages wide and spot beams ensuring the greatest throughput and coverage to deliver high-speed, high-capacity internet and global live television to customers across the commercial aviation, business aviation, oil and gas, mining, merchant maritime and passenger vessel markets.
HTS beams deliver throughput significantly greater than traditional satellites, amplifying the complexity and incremental costs of all the constituent network elements. This includes the need for more teleports and more uplinks – which carry with them higher associated costs, as well as a far larger terrestrial backbone. With this agreement in place, AST can now deliver comprehensive HTS network services without having to put significant ground infrastructure in place to support the complex requirements created by multi-spot-beam satellites.
"Partnering with strategic organizations that maintain strong customer relationships in various niche market segments provides an exciting opportunity for growth in serving new customer sets," said Ian Dawkins, CEO at ITC Global. "By taking on the capital expense requirements associated with HTS networks, we remove a critical barrier to entry for our reseller partners."
"We are pleased to add Panasonic to our growing VSAT portfolio," said Stuart Castell, Director of AST. "This addition will enable us to provide our customers with global Ku and C-band coverage plus access to the largest coverage of Ku high throughput services available today. Our partnership with Panasonic puts us at the forefront of maritime VSAT connectivity, enabling us to offer our innovative and industry-leading applications globally."
The Panasonic network covers 100 percent of all major oil and gas hotspots worldwide, 99.6 percent of aero traffic routes, and greater than 98 percent of global maritime routes. Panasonic's network offers globe-wrapping capacity, growing to 250+ transponder equivalents (TPE) in 2017, which equates to roughly 25 satellites. As the world's largest buyer of commercial space segment, Panasonic is revolutionizing today's VSAT market with game-changing pricing and service delivery.
About ITC Global
ITC Global is a leading provider of satellite communications to the energy, mining, and maritime markets. Companies in remote and harsh environments require communications with both global coverage and unwavering customer service. ITC Global enables improved real-time decision-making and enhanced health, safety and environmental management through a unified communications solution, tailored to the requirements of each client. Solutions include custom network design, hardware implementation, field engineering, technical support and enterprise-grade satellite bandwidth. ITC Global operates 24x7 carrier-class networks across the Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia. It became a subsidiary of Panasonic Corporation in 2015. For more information, visit www.itcglobal.com.
About Applied Satellite Technology Ltd
AST is a leading provider of satellite communications from all major networks, providing bespoke solutions and packages to suit any customer need. With over 25 years of experience in the field of satellite communications, AST is dedicated to providing an unbiased and reliable satellite communication service to customers. AST can fulfill any customer requirement from a singular satellite phone to a more complex tracking and fleet management solution.