- Tampnet's CTO told Fierce that the startup is "well positioned" to provide maritime cellular for deep-sea mining operations
- SNS Telecom & IT has said that deep-sea mining won't be a major focus for cellular vendors in "the short-term"
- Tampnet is pushing ahead with maritime contracts, signing another hybrid cellular/satellite deal off the Norway coast
Tampnet's CTO Infrastructure, Anders Tysal, recently told Fierce that his company is ready to extend its maritime private network footprint into the deep-sea mining market as that sector becomes more widespread.
"We are monitoring activities and will be well positioned to deploy our private/public hybrid network solutions for both exploration and production units working in the deep-sea mining," Tysal said in an email, noting that Tampnet has no deep-sea mining customers currently.
"It is still early days in the industry though, so we will keep an eye out on what is going on," Tysal added.
"We expect similar requirements from the deep-sea mining industry as from the energy industry," the CTO noted. Key parameters of the market are complex and potentially dangerous operations, both for the environment and workers. "This requires the best possible communications and monitoring solutions, so Tampnet should be well placed as the leading provider of telecom services supporting this kind of complex activity in the maritime domain," Tysdal said.
Deep-sea mining market moves
The deep-sea mining market is moving forward. The Trump administration held a hearing in April to examine deep-sea mining’s potential to increase U.S. mineral production.
Startups including Green Minerals, Loke and The Metals Company want to mine the seabed for minerals like nickel, cobalt and manganese to use in products like electric car batteries and mobile phones.
Even the initial moves to deep-sea mining have stirred up controversy. Environmental objectors note that the largely unmapped seabed could be damaged in multiple ways - from depleting marine animal populations to noise pollution - before it has even been explored.
SNS Telecom & IT told Fierce that deep-sea mining isn't on the radar for major private network vendors, such as Huawei, Nokia or Ericsson, at least yet. "Deep-sea mining doesn't seem to be a major area of focus in the short term," the analyst firm said.
Mining under the waves
Meanwhile, Tampnet secured a 5-year contract with Island Driling AS to supply a communications stack for the company's semi-submersible Island Innovator rig located in the North Sea off Norway.
The rig's comms system uses Tampnet's 4G LTE multiple carrier antennas, microwave and fiber backbone, along with low-earth-orbit (LEO) satellite backhaul from Starlink and OneWeb to provide Island Drilling with comprehensive connectivity on the sea.
Island Drilling said that the system will be ready for use in the fourth quarter of 2025.
CTO Tysdal recently told Fierce that the company is moving to Nokia 5G radios for its sea-worthy private networks and slowly replacing Ericsson and Huawei 4G LTE radios with Nokia 5G RAN across its entire 120-plus maritime cellular basestation footprint.