Thales has signed two agreements with satellite operator SES. With these agreements, Thales will offer airlines FlytLIVE connectivity over the Americas. FlytLIVE by Thales will start operating mid 2017 using two existing Ka-band multi-beam satellites from SES. To meet the needs of a growing market, SES will procure a new satellite, SES-17, specifically designed for the needs of FlytLIVE and manufactured by Thales Alenia Space, to be launched in 2020.

FlytLIVE will offer full Internet services including video streaming, games, social media and live television. The service will use the SES connectivity network of Ka-band High-Throughput Satellite (HTS) services optimized for airlines.

The third satellite in the network to be launched, SES-17, will be optimized for the fast-moving aviation and mobility market over the Americas. It will provide new Ka-HTS bandwidth over this region to meet current and future speed, coverage and quality expectations of crowded skies and increasing passenger service demands. Thales will be the first large “anchor customer” for the new satellite.

The satellite will be equipped with close to 200 spot beams of mixed size for more flexible allocation of capacity over high-traffic airline routes and field-of-view beams to enable the most efficient delivery of Internet, live broadcast television and real-time content delivery.

SES-17 will cover North America, South America, Central America, the Caribbean and the Atlantic ocean. The network will provide substantial gains over today’s broadband connections, ensuring ultra-high speeds, capacity, coverage and quality.

SES’s new satellite will also complement its 12 Ka-band satellites operated by O3b Networks in MEO to provide high throughput capacity to other data customers in the enterprise, maritime and government markets.