Inmarsat has introduced the first terminal capable of accessing the operator's upcoming high data rate (HDR) service streaming rate for BGAN at CommunicAsia2013.
Inmarsat is showing off the Cobham SATCOM Explorer 710 terminal for the first time in Asia ahead of the launch of BGAN HDR in Q4 this year.
BGAN HDR aims to provide broadcasters and media organizations with a streaming rate of around 650 kbps with its full-channel option. For customers requiring more bandwidth, the Explorer 710 also comes with an in-built bonding capability, says Drew Brandy, industry VP for the enterprise division of Inmarsat.
"So with an Ethernet cable you can bond two terminals together and achieve speeds of over 1-Mbps streaming, which is something that previously you could only do on a VSAT uplink," Brandy told the Show Daily. "And when you look at the new H.265 video codec we'll be introducing in 2014, those things conspire together to create performance that feels like 1.4-Mbps streaming."
Brandy said there's a lot of demand for faster video streaming for mobile satellite services in Asia, "especially in Japan and China, where there's a voracious appetite for high-capacity streaming."
But that doesn't mean HDR streaming is in demand just from broadcasters, Brandy added. "We also see streaming used quite extensively by our government customers, and there's a number of other customers that are adopting streaming for things like videoconferencing and surveillance."