What happened to O3b?

O3b Networks became a wholly owned subsidiary of SES S.A. in 2016 and the operator name was subsequently dropped in favour of SES Networks, a division of SES. The satellites themselves, now part of the SES fleet, continue to use the O3b name.

How does O3b work?

O3b is a satellite constellation in Medium Earth orbit (MEO) owned and operated by SES, and designed to provide low-latency broadband connectivity to remote locations for mobile network operators and internet service providers, maritime, aviation, and government and defence.

How many O3b satellites are there?

The O3b satellite constellation is planned to consist of eight satellites in its initial phase before the number of active spacecraft is doubled to 16. The fleet of satellites orbits the Earth in a circular, equatorial Medium Earth Orbit at an altitude of 8,063 Kilometers.

Who owns O3b?

SES S.A.O3b Networks / Parent organizationSES S.A. is a Luxembourgish satellite and terrestrial telecommunications network provider supplying video and data connectivity worldwide to broadcasters, content and internet service providers, mobile and fixed network operators, governments and institutions. Wikipedia

What is O3b Meo?

It is often referred to as O3b MEO to distinguish these satellites from SES’s forthcoming O3b mPOWER constellation.

What is O3b Networks Ltd?

O3b Networks Ltd. is the operator of this new satellite constellation, named after “the Other 3 Billion” – referring to the population of the world that has no access to broadband data services without help.

What is the latency of the O3b beam?

Each beam’s footprint measures 700 km (430 mi) in diameter. O3b claims a mouth-to-ear one-way latency of 179 milliseconds for voice communication, and an end-to-end round-trip latency of 140 ms for data services. The maximum throughput per TCP connection is 2.1 Mbit/s.

Why did O3b switch three satellites into stand-by mode?

With 12 satellites in orbit, O3b switched three from the first batch into stand-by mode due to their degraded signal characteristic to serve as viable backups in case any other satellite suffers technical difficulties.