By Pacific Island Times News Staff
Arlington, Virginia – Privacy-first mobile carrier Cape this week unveiled progress on its work to deliver advanced telecommunications capabilities to the Navy, helping achieve 4G/5G connectivity with its partner IT&E in trials on the USS Abraham Lincoln up to 130 miles offshore.
In providing a viable alternative for high-bandwidth data connections, Cape and its partner IT&E are delivering on the vision of Bob Stephenson, PACOM CIO, of “satellite at sea, 5G at port” — an ambition that was previously very challenging, particularly in volatile environments.
The USS Abraham Lincoln was able to attain 4G / 5G data connections
up to 30 nautical miles offshore coming into Guam, and up to 130 nautical miles offshore in the Philippines.
The team achieved steady speeds of 50 Mbps download, 25 Mbps
upload and peaks of 160 Mbps download and 50 Mbps upload, comparable to Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite services.
At port, Cape’s Strategic MVNO delivered a secure, high bandwidth 4G / 5G connection, providing connectivity for the entire carrier and transferring over a terabyte of data in 24 hours.
Pier-side tests using Cape SIMs delivered data speeds 10-20 times faster than prepaid and roaming SIMs, with comparable download and 2-3 times faster upload speeds to an onboard satellite terminal.
The success on USS Abraham Lincoln underscores the important innovation that the Navy is leading in adding more communications capabilities to our fleets by enhancing the security of commercial cellular and 5G.
Using the Cape Strategic MVNO aboard a Navy aircraft carrier demonstrates
the potential for the future of enabling cellular communications that are routed through a U.S.-owned, cloud-based core on ships around the world. Every soldier and sailor deployed to a country with one of Cape’s expanding network of trusted, overseas Strategic MVNOs can communicate more securely.
“Innovating is the lifeblood of the Navy. By developing additional high-speed data connections using 4G / 5G we help our sailors accomplish their mission," said Capt. Kevin White, combat systems officer on Abraham Lincoln.
The results also pave the way for using commercially deployed cellular infrastructure to communicate more securely on a variety of vessels and vehicles, enabling the military to gain the benefits of cellular’s ability to support high-speed handoffs, using smaller form factors that require less power than other communication options like satellite can deliver, all while running on widely available local cellular networks.
Cape deploys a cloud-based ultra-secure network on top of IT&E’s physical RAN. As the USS Abraham Lincoln approached into cellular range, sailors onboard were able to start offloading data onto Cape’s MVNO, which routes data directly from the IT&E local 4G and 5G cell sites to the Cape-managed, cloud- based core network for data transmission.
“As the service provider with the largest network in the Marianas and Guam, we are proud to partner with the Navy and Cape to deliver innovation in connectivity," said David Gibson, CEO of IT&E. "This partnership allows us to support national defense initiatives and our service men and women by ensuring seamless communication and reliable connections when and where it matters the most. Together, we’re ensuring connectivity across the globe, both on land and at sea.”
Cape’s is working to improve secure connectivity throughout the INDOPACOM area of responsibility using existing cellular infrastructure.
“One of the values of Cape’s work with IT&E and other operators is that it
means users can have their data routed back to Cape’s U.S.-owned and managed core network while on foreign networks,” said John Doyle, CEO of Cape. “It’s fantastic to see our tech is able to securely protect the data of members of the Navy and encourages what this means for secure protection of our users more broadly.”
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