Satellite-based network services further enable rapid digitalisation for Orange merchant shipping customers

Orange maritime customers will now be able to accelerate their digital transformation with higher-capacity satellite connectivity services provided jointly by SES Networks and Orange.

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SES Networks Expands Partnership With Orange to Enhance Maritime Services (Photo: Business Wire)

With this innovative agreement, Orange will integrate its own global infrastructure with the global network coverage powered by SES Networks’ Skala Global Platform. Together it 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. This confirms the Orange ambition to become a key player offering solutions for the maritime sector.

The maritime industry is on the threshold of rapid technological change, challenging shipping companies to incorporate a wide range of digital solutions to remain competitive. Shipping fleet operators need to implement automation and digitalisation of onboard processes to ensure optimum performance, efficiency and reliability.

This latest agreement further strengthens the partnership that the Orange Group and SES Networks have established in the last few years. Orange has leveraged SES’ innovative O3b satellite constellation operating in medium earth orbit (MEO) as well as SES’ geostationary satellites to deliver global fibre-like, low-latency services to their mining customers. Orange has also been using SES’s MEO and GEO services to provide international connectivity where needed and to deploy cellular services across remote areas of Africa. Orange is also the first announced network operator to adopt O3b mPOWER, SES’s next-generation MEO system, which is planned for commercial service availability in the second half of 2022.

“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.

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About SES

SES has a bold vision to deliver amazing experiences everywhere on earth by distributing the highest quality video content and providing seamless connectivity around the world. As the leader in global content connectivity solutions, SES operates the world’s only multi-orbit constellation of satellites with the unique combination of global coverage and high performance, including the commercially-proven, low-latency Medium Earth Orbit O3b system. By leveraging a vast and intelligent, cloud-enabled network, SES is able to deliver high-quality connectivity solutions anywhere on land, at sea or in the air, and is a trusted partner to the world’s leading telecommunications companies, mobile network operators, governments, connectivity and cloud service providers, broadcasters, video platform operators and content owners. SES’s video network carries over 8,400 channels and has an unparalleled reach of 361 million households, delivering managed media services for both linear and non-linear content. The company is listed on Paris and Luxembourg stock exchanges (Ticker: SESG). Further information is available at: www.ses.com.

About Orange

Orange is one of the world’s leading telecommunications operators with sales of 42.3 billion euros in 2020 and 139,000 employees worldwide at 30 June 2021, including 80,000 employees in France. The Group has a total customer base of 263 million customers worldwide at 30 June 2021, including 218 million mobile customers and 22 million fixed broadband customers. The Group is present in 26 countries. Orange is also a leading provider of global IT and telecommunication services to multinational companies under the brand Orange Business Services. In December 2019, the Group presented its new "Engage 2025" strategic plan, which, guided by social and environmental accountability, aims to reinvent its operator model. While accelerating in growth areas and placing data and AI at the heart of its innovation model, the Group will be an attractive and responsible employer, adapted to emerging professions.

Orange is listed on Euronext Paris (symbol ORA) and on the New York Stock Exchange (symbol ORAN).

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