O3b Satellites Ready for Launch
Telecom Cook Islands Launch Service aboard O3b Fleet
St. John, Jersey, Channel Islands –O3b Networks Ltd (O3b) announces that its second group of 4 satellites have successfully completed all required ground testing and are now ready to ship. The satellites will be launched from Le Centre Spatial Guyanais (CSG), Kourou, French Guiana.
The satellites will soon begin their journey from the Thales Alenia Space facility in Rome to Kourou, to be launched as early as the first week of June pending final confirmation from launch provider, Arianespace. Following launch and with four more satellites in-orbit, O3b will start commercial service for all O3b customers on a global basis.
Telecom Cook Islands is one customer who did not need to wait for the second set of four satellites in order to introduce game-changing services. Telecom Cook Islands has been working with O3b to validate the system performance since launch of the initial constellation in June 2013 and were so happy with what they saw, they have initiated full commercial operation in the Cook Islands over the O3b fleet. Islanders are now experiencing connection speeds comparable with fiber for the first time ever, while 3G networks on the Islands now have the throughput to fuel true mobile broadband.
Steve Collar, CEO of O3b Networks said:
“We have great momentum in 2014, completing our next four satellites and now with our first customer fully operational. It has been so gratifying to see the impact that delivering broadband for the first time to the Cook Islands has had. The wide-eyed excitement at instantaneous downloads, zero delay voice and Skype, things that can be taken for granted in New York but not in Rarotonga. Not until today.”
“With four more satellites finished and four more to launch later in the year, 2014 is the breakout year for O3b. There are so many places in the world that don’t have infrastructure conducive to 21st century communications. In 2014, we will help to change that, starting with the Cook Islands.”
About O3b Networks Limited
O3b Networks Limited (www.o3bnetworks.com) is a global satellite service provider building a next-generation satellite network for telecommunications operators, Internet service providers, enterprise and government customers in emerging markets.
The O3b network will deliver broadband connectivity everywhere on Earth within 45 degrees of latitude north and south of the equator. Our vast coverage area includes emerging and insufficiently connected markets in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Australia, with a collective population of over 3 billion people. It will combine the global reach of satellite with the speed of a fiber‐optic network providing billions of consumers and businesses in nearly 180 countries with low‐cost, high‐speed, low latency Internet and mobile connectivity. O3b Networks’ investors include SES, Google, Liberty Global, HSBC Principal Investments, Northbridge Venture Partners, Allen & Company, Development Bank of Southern Africa, Sofina, Satya Capital and Luxempart. O3b Networks is headquartered in St. Helier, Jersey, Channel Islands.
