Initial constellation complete as O3b successfully launches 4 more satellites

 

O3b’s innovative satellite constellation is already connecting populations, enabling applications and transforming lives 

Le Centre Spatial Guyanais (CSG), Kourou, French Guiana - December 18, 2014: O3b announced today that four more state-of-the-art satellites have been successfully launched from the Space Center in French Guiana.

Today’s launch adds substantial capacity and performance to the O3b constellation that is already providing game changing connectivity to customers around the world. The new satellites will now go through a period of in-orbit testing before being fully integrated into the O3b network early in the new year.

The O3b system delivers fiber like performance, with throughput exceeding 1 Gbps per connection and latency comparable with terrestrial networks, but retains the flexibility and ubiquity of satellite.   The company has now launched 8 satellites in 5 months, adding more than 80 Gbps of capacity and growing the fleet capacity to over 100 Gbps. 

Already deployed in locations as diverse as the Colombian Amazon, DRC’s capital Kinshasa, the world’s newest country – South Sudan and Papua New Guinea, O3b is providing industry-leading connectivity to digitally disadvantaged populations across the globe.

 

O3b CEO Steve Collar said:

“We are so excited to be able to bring such a significant increase in capacity and capability just a few short months after our last launch.  Our new satellites will allow our customers to connect digitally disadvantaged populations, enabling online education, e-commerce, telemedicine and cloud based services, to transform businesses, communities and lives.

Four years ago, O3b was still just an idea, driven by the conviction that everyone should share the opportunity that being connected and online brings.  Now we have more than 100 Gbps of capacity in a unique and scalable orbit, connecting and enabling customers around the world.  It’s a remarkable journey and we could not be more excited or optimistic about the future – a future in which we intend to increase our capacity in orbit to more than 1 Tbps.”