Pivotel and SES have signed an agreement to build a new satellite ground station at the Pivotel teleport in Dubbo, New South Wales — this ground station will support O3b mPOWER, SES’s next-generation, non-geostationary (NGSO) constellation and enable the delivery of enhanced telecommunication services to regional communities.
The project, which has come about as part of the ongoing partnership between Pivotel and SES will provide much needed high-performance and low-latency connectivity services across Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands. The terabit-level constellation will deliver multiple gigabits-per-second beams of data services to customers, providing fiber-like connectivity with more bandwidth and improved flexibility to remote and underserved regions across Australia and the Pacific islands.
The Dubbo gateway (pictured above) will commence operations in the second half of 2021 and will track SES’s O3b mPOWER constellation operating at MEO 8,000 km away from Earth. This ground station will also support telemetry, tracking and commanding systems needed to control the satellites during the early stages of launch and complete integration with the Satellite Operations Centre.
Pivotel has been hosting an O3b gateway since 2013, when SES’s current MEO constellation was launched. Through the O3b gateway, SES has been instrumental in enabling the delivery of connectivity services to communities and the regional government entities of countries such as Papua New Guinea, Nauru and Federated States of Micronesia.
This technology has enabled some of these countries to roll out low latency 4G/4G+ networks via satellite – a first for the satellite industry. Remote mine locations have also benefited from this technology, accelerating their digitization plans and staff welfare through high-speed internet.
“Pivotel and SES have enjoyed a long-standing relationship that stems back to the initial days of O3b services. With such an important and powerful project, SES is thrilled to be continuing this partnership with Pivotel. Working to integrate leading technology from both businesses, we have captured the key elements of high-performance connectivity that can truly benefit everyone in the region regardless of how remote they may be,” said John Turnbull, Director for Australia and the Pacific region of SES.
“We’re proud to partner with SES to deliver a new satellite ground station in Dubbo that offers an incredible number of new opportunities for regional and remote communications across the country and Pacific region. The extremely high cost of deploying fibre links to remote communities means satellite is often the only choice, but it has come at the cost of lower download speeds and higher latency. SES’s O3b mPOWER’s fibre-like performance largely overcomes those trade-offs, offering the potential of city-like connectivity to remote and isolated communities everywhere,” said Peter Bolger, CEO of Pivotel. “Once launched in 2021, the unique next-generation MEO constellation will be capable of delivering desperately needed back haul connectivity, and with the right support, has the power to deliver city-like data services to thousands of users across regional Australia including schools, community and health centres, as well as providing a vital point of connectivity for emergency and disaster first responders.”