O3b Networks announced it has signed a multi-year deal worth multi-millions of dollars to provide Royal Caribbean with high-speed satellite-delivered broadband service. By the summer of 2013, Oasis of the Seas will benefit from O3b's enhanced connectivity at sea that claims it will be like being connected to fiber at home or in the office.
Royal Caribbean will be the first cruise company to utilize O3b's new maritime offering O3b Maritime, which delivers the reach of satellite and the speed and latency of fiber at a fraction of the cost of conventional providers. O3b is enabling maritime service providers to offer affordable fiber-like capacity across the Caribbean and ocean regions around the world. Providing unparalleled bandwidth, O3b's steerable satellite beams will provide cruise industry passengers ultra-fast Internet communications throughout their voyage.
Royal Caribbean CEO Adam Goldstein commented on the deal, "Royal Caribbean is committed to delivering the most contemporary vacation to our guests, and that includes pushing ahead for onboard technological advances that offer the modern conveniences that guests enjoy on land. This milestone agreement with O3b Networks enables us to provide our guests with unprecedented Internet service at sea aboard Oasis of the Seas and potentially in the future aboard other ships in our fleet."