Airbus Defence and Space, formerly Astrium, has expanded its Ku-band satellite services portfolio with the new Terralink Companion Quick Deploy  solution ideally suited for field communication in operations such as mining. Launched at the Investing in African Mining Exhibition (Indaba) in Cape Town, the Terralink Companion QD 1.2m VSAT system delivers semi-mobile, high-quality and cost-effective VSAT services.

This highly portable system is a full field office solution that can be set up in less than 15 minutes. It offers a host of applications from email and Internet, to file transfer and voice calling through both wired and wireless networks. This mobility and ease of set-up also make Terralink Companion QD 1.2m suitable for emergency responders and scientific or natural resource exploration. Its 1.2m compact, back-pack portable antenna is easily transportable and can be checked in as hold baggage on commercial flights (IATA compliant).

“With this new service we provide customers with ad-hoc mobility for VSAT solutions, enabling them to access the Internet or VPN from virtually anywhere at broadband speeds,” said Danny Côté, Head of Business Communications Enterprises. In addition to being flexible and reliable, Terralink Companion QD 1.2m is also cost-effective, given that it is based on a pay-per-use service. Users pay a flat fee with unlimited broadband data and are only charged for the service for the duration of the time it is activated.

Terralink Companion QD 1.2m draws on Airbus Defence and Space’s Ku-band satellite capacity pool, featuring short-notice service activation that can be online quickly almost anywhere in the world. This modular system provides global coverage with speeds of up to 1.5Mbps. Visitors to the Indaba exhibition can find out more about the Terralink Companion QD 1.2m solution on the Airbus Defence and Space stand – No. 1101 & 1103, Exhibition halls 2-4 A of the CTICC (Cape Town International Convention Centre). The solution is part of the company’s complete communication offering for the mining industry which includes sophisticated geo-information services and the largest portfolio of satellite-based voice and data services for business-critical connectivity, worker safety and on-site efficiency.