Orange and SES Networks have entered an agreement to integrate Orange’s own infrastructure with the global network provided by SES Networks’ Skala Global Platform.

The partnership will enable Orange maritime customers to cost-effectively scale up their bandwidth with seamless, ubiquitous and global services. This will ensure they can implement new technologies onboard that take advantage of IoT and AI, as well as edge and cloud applications.

The combination of the Orange secured and digital network infrastructure and SES Networks’ Skala Global Platform — a next-generation technology platform which provides worldwide coverage via multiple geostationary satellites and gateways interconnected by a global terrestrial network — will deliver reliable, high-performance broadband services everywhere, from developed markets to the hardest-to-reach places on Earth.

“At Orange, we continue to believe that satellite is a future-oriented technology and that the many recent innovations in this industry will give it a growing place in the telco area, whether in Africa, in more developed areas such Europe or North America, or in specific industries such as maritime. This is why we are glad to reinforce our partnership with SES, as it will add a new component to our overall mission at Orange, that of building intelligent, open and innovative networks in order to support the digital transformation of our business customers and provide access to digital usage to the largest number of people,” said Jean-Luc Vuillemin, executive vice president, Orange international networks infrastructures and services.

“With the commercial maritime sector seeking global and high-quality connectivity as it enters the next stage of digitalisation to implement more AI and other automated technologies, expanding our partnership with SES is fitting as we will be opening the door to more exciting innovations for our maritime customers.”

“We have been working closely together with the Orange Group the last couple of years to provide high-performance connectivity services worldwide to their customers in many different industries. As our partner, they were the first major telco player to embrace our upcoming O3b mPOWER and now collaborating together on our Skala Global Platform, SES will deliver new levels of connectivity, creating seamless, reliable global coverage for those in the maritime industry. Our flexible bandwidth solution removes any barriers that might be holding shipowners back from realising the full value when it comes to their digital investments,” said John-Paul Hemingway, CEO of SES Networks.