Managers at Wessex Water decided to upgrade their communications systems to support the rapid deployment of emergency teams in remote areas without reliable cellular coverage. They opted for a solution from Inmarsat partner Hughes, which offers automatic failover from 3G service.
The company provides water and sewage services to 1.3m people across the south-west of England. Previously, emergency teams had found it difficult to operate in areas with little or no wireless 3G coverage. The company wanted a communications solution which enabled staff to stay in contact during emergencies such as flooding.
Hughes’ on-the-move solution uses its compact and lightweight Hughes 9450 BGAN terminal. This keeps communication channels open when cellular coverage is not available and synchronizes communications between mobile units and the command center. It also allows them to stream live video from the scene of incidents.
“We’re proud to have been chosen by Wessex Water for this critically important service,” said Chris O’Dell, Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Hughes Europe. “Wessex Water’s engineers previously faced an uncertain communications environment when responding to a major incident. This highly-available solution employing our rugged and easy-to-use mobile terminal ensures reliable communications among the response units, no matter the conditions and where they may be.”
The Hughes 9450-C11 terminal is fully approved for operation on Inmarsat’s Broadband Global Area Network (BGAN) satellite service and provides high-performance, on-the-move connectivity for the most demanding environments.
The Hughes 9450-C11 is a budget-friendly and highly competitive mobile terminal, ideal for government, first responders, public safety, mobile healthcare, and remote mobile fleet personnel in industries such as utility, oil and gas, forestry, cable, and telecommunications.