Offshore Telecoms Network Operator Tampnet Joins TCCA

Tampnet, owner and operator of the world’s largest offshore telecommunications network, has announced its membership of TCCA, the global member-led organisation working for the advancement of critical communications.

Tampnet owns and operates 4500km of subsea fibre infrastructure in the North Sea and Gulf of Mexico, providing high-speed connectivity to shore for more than 350 offshore windfarms and offshore oil and gas production platforms. With its direct and critical fibre routes between Scandinavia, UK and Continental Europe, the network is increasingly utilised for international data and internet traffic. This ties in with the growing needs of the Scandinavian data centre industry and establishment of the large international cloud providers in the region.

The robust fibre infrastructure has enabled the build out of reliable, high-speed 4G/5G networks in these offshore regions, where a total coverage of 600,000 square km has been achieved by placing some 120+ base stations on the offshore windfarms and production platforms connected with fibre. While vessels and mobile rigs have been enjoying the benefits of high-speed, low latency connectivity through this mobile coverage for 5-10 years, Tampnet has gradually started to leverage the wireless 4G/5G coverage for the ongoing digital transformation that is taking place in the offshore sector.

Tampnet is now also providing connectivity to airlines travelling across the North Sea, through the European Aviation Network.

“As the geopolitical situation has led to an increased focus on critical and safe energy supply from the regions in which we operate, the criticality of our growing infrastructure has risen significantly. Correspondingly, so has our ability to provide critical communications applications across our infrastructure in these areas, particularly with regards to monitoring of offshore activity and public safety applications,” said Elie Hanna, Tampnet’s CEO. “By incorporating the latest technology across our reliable, fully redundant network, we ensure that critical communications take priority, as demonstrated by our experience with FirstNet in the Gulf of Mexico in the US.”

“In joining TCCA, Tampnet hopes to bring awareness to the capabilities of our offshore network and support governments, offshore operators, safety system technology manufacturers and other stakeholders to design and implement secure and responsive systems for their critical operations. We look forward to sharing knowledge and collaborating with all stakeholders across these industries to further develop improved, responsive systems and harness the power of telecommunications to support a safe, stable and sustainable future.”

“We are extremely pleased to welcome Tampnet to our membership,” said Kevin Graham, TCCA CEO. “They clearly bring a wealth of practical experience as an operator of resilient networks and a deep understanding of user requirements in particularly the energy, oil and gas and maritime sectors. We look forward to the valuable knowledge they can exchange across our global critical communications industry community.”

Tampnet was founded in 2001 in Stavanger, Norway and operates the world’s largest offshore high-capacity communication network in the North Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, serving customers within Oil & Gas, Wind Energy, Maritime and Carrier sectors with first-class telecommunications.

The company employs the best telecom talent in its business segments, is headquartered in Stavanger, Norway and has offices in the UK, the Netherlands, USA, and Trinidad & Tobago.