Bhathiya Barukanda
Sri Lanka’s cabinet of ministers has approved a proposal by the aviation minister to to award a contract to Viasat Inc. to obtain Ka band satellite internet connectivity for seven A330-300 aircraft of the SriLankan Airlines fleet.
A statement from the government information department said the contract will be valid for seven years.
SriLankan Airlines Limited at present operates a fleet of 13 aircraft with internet facilities enabling passengers to use Wi-Fi facilities and GSM services on their mobile phones in -flight, the statement said. As passengers have to use low internet speed with the outdated internet facilities existing at present, the need to provide fast internet facilities have been identified, it said.
“Ka and Ku bands are used for high-end connections, and due to the availability of a high frequency range, the Ka band provides high speed data transfer. It has been identified that Ka band connections are more suitable for internet access, other structured services and other activities that require huge amounts of data.
“Accordingly, the proposal presented by the Viasat institute, the only supplier to give Ka band connectivity providing hardware, software and internet facilities with global coverage for commercial aircraft, has been appraised by the Technical Evaluation Committee and the Standing Procurement Committee appointed by the Cabinet of Ministers and the recommendations have been forwarded. The Cabinet of Ministers has approved the proposal presented by the Minister of Ports, Shipping and Aviation to award the contract to Viasat Inc. to obtain Ka-band high-speed satellite technical internet connectivity for seven (7) A330-300 model aircraft of Sri Lankan Airlines Limited for the period of 07 years under the said recommendations.”
According to online sources, the Ka band (pronounced as either “kay-ay band” or “ka band”) is a “portion of the microwave part of the electromagnetic spectrum defined as frequencies in the range 26.5–40 gigahertz (GHz), i.e. wavelengths from slightly over one centimeter down to 7.5 millimeters. The band is called Ka, short for “K-above” because it is the upper part of the original NATO K band, which was split into three bands because of the presence of the atmospheric water vapor resonance peak at 22.24 GHz (1.35 cm), which made the center unusable for long range transmission. The 30/20 GHz band is used in communications satellite uplinks in either the 27.5 GHz or 31 GHz bands,[3] and in high-resolution, close-range targeting radars aboard military airplanes.”
source: https://economynext.com/
