- Tampnet serves private networks to 350 platforms in the sea
- It operates in the North Sea, the Gulf of Mexico and beyond
- An SNS analyst noted that Tampnet is up against competition from Telenor Maritime and others
5G is once again taking to the high seas as off-shore provider Tampnet delivers private wireless to customers in the North Sea.
Tampnet recently completed its first private 5G deployment for the Aker BP Edvard Grieg rig on the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS) and there's plenty more on the way. Aker BP has already ordered additional 5G assets for its Alvheim, Fenris, Ivar Aasen, Skarv, Valhall and Yggdrasil rigs and complexes in the North Sea.
Per Atle Sørensen, Managing Director North Sea at Tampnet, said in a statement that the connectivity it is providing oil and gas companies like Aker BP enables them "to scale advanced use cases such as remote operations, AI-based optimization and dynamic reservoir monitoring."
Getting in the 5G game
Tampnet already operates many 4G LTE off-shore private networks, with SNS Telecom & IT 5G Research Director Asad Khan telling Fierce it provides offshore coverage in the Norwegian, Danish, British, and Dutch sections of the North Sea; the Gulf of Mexico and the East Coast of the United States; the coast of Newfoundland in Canada; and Trinidad and Tobago
“These networks span over 120 active base stations that serve more than 350 oil and gas platforms, FPSOs (Floating Production Storage & Offloading Units), exploration rigs, wind farms and vessels,” Khan added, referencing his firm’s private 5G report.
Tampnet is now waving the 5G wand, rolling out infrastructure upgrades for customers like Aker BP. Among other things, these upgrades include the "deployment of Mavenir’s converged 4G-5G packet core solution across Tampnet’s global offshore mobile network footprint."
Fending off competition on the high seas
Though perhaps surprising, Khan noted that Tampnet does face competition in some of its markets. For example, Telenor Maritime also operates an LTE/5G-ready offshore mobile service for the oil and gas industry in the Norwegian section of the North Sea.
“The rival private network operator has recently completed a multi-band 5G network upgrade for Equinor’s offshore installations, starting with the Gullfaks A platform," Khan pointed out.
One thing working in Tampnet's favor is its wide array of spectrum licenses across various markets. Khan noted that in Norway alone Tampnet "holds licenses in Band 28/n28 (700 MHz), Band 20/n20 (800 MHz), Band 3/n3 (1.8 GHz), Band 7/n7 (2.6 GHz), and Band n78 (3.5 GHz).”
The company also offers a roaming plan for its coverage areas in the North Sea.
Operators that support the roaming plan include EE and VodafoneThree in the United Kingdom; KPN, T-Mobile and Vodafone in the Netherlands; and Telenet, Telia and others in the Nordic region. Tampnet said that “access is available for all vessels working in our coverage area - drilling rigs, service vessels, fishing vessels and yachts - as well as for crew members” though roaming rates might vary.