New SES O3b mPower satellite constellation promises a new era in connectivity

With the launch on December 16 of the first two O3b mPower satellites aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the Cape Canaveral Space Station in Florida (United States), SES aims to open a new era in connectivity.

Built by Boeing and designed to deliver unprecedented performance with the first-in-class software-based payload, O3b mPower is SES's second-generation medium Earth orbit (MEO) system. Your customers will be able to transform their operations and benefit from terabit-level scale, the highest, most flexible and guaranteed throughput, with a round trip latency of less than 150 milliseconds.

This ecosystem is easily scalable and includes 11 powerful satellites initials, each equipped with more than 5,000 beams trained digitally, and an extensive new generation terrestrial infrastructure. Among the main clients that have already contracted O3b mPower are Microsoft, Princess Cruises, Marlink, Jio Platforms, Orange, Claro Brasil and the recently announced Vodafone Cook Islands.

Steve Collar, CEO of SES, recognizes that this launch marks "the next milestone in our MEO journey. Since we began this journey, we have made a positive impact on millions of people around the world. With our second generation O3b mPower, we are bringing a revolutionary technology that offers a unique combination of multiple gigabits per second of throughput anywhere, guaranteed reliability and service flexibility that is a first in the industry."

“Whether we are enabling governments to safely carry out critical missions, cruise operators to provide high-speed broadband access to passengers at all times, or mobile network operators to deploy 4G/5G networks in under-connected areas or restore communications networks during downtime, O3b mPOWER is the satellite system of choice for applications where performance is paramount,” he adds.

Jim Chilton, senior vice president of Boeing Space and Launch, highlights, for his part, “the coming months will be another critical period of collaboration as we prepare the next nine satellites for launch and allow these first satellites to fulfill their mission of connecting people around the world.”