When its second high-throughput satellite (HTS) goes live in the first quarter of next year, Intelsat will start to have the kind of global coverage for high data transmission that Inmarsat claims for its Fleet Xpress network, which went into operation this year.

But Intelsat, one of the world’s largest commercial satellite operators that sells its capacity to maritime communications companies such as Marlink, is taking a different approach to worldwide coverage with the Epic network, which it claims will give better focus on service where it is needed.

Intelsat