Addvalue and Inmarsat Sign MOU

2 February 2017

Addvalue Innovation Pte Ltd (“Addvalue”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Singapore’s Main Board listed company, Addvalue Technologies Ltd, and Inmarsat, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to offer a data relay service to meet the communications needs of the Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite market. 

Up until now, communications with LEO satellites has only been available when the satellite is within sight of an earth station. This limited connectivity is available only on a rigid time schedule based on the particular LEO satellite’s orbit and the geographic placement of the earth stations.

The new service designed to address this issue will be based on Addvalue’s space tested Inter-Satellite Data Relay System (“IDRS”) terminal and Inmarsat’s established Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO) I-4 satellite-based Broadband Global Area Network (BGAN) network.  The real-time links will enhance the operational efficiency of LEO satellites and Inmarsat and Addvalue expect to finalise a full agreement shortly.  

Under the proposed agreement, Addvalue and Inmarsat will take the IDRS service to market, providing commercial, on-demand, 24/7 two-way IP-based data services for in-orbit LEO satellite missions. Addvalue’s IDRS is an innovative new service that addresses a long standing constraint confronting the operation of LEO satellites.