Speedcast has rolled out Starlink’s Global High Throughput Service (HTS) across COSL Drilling Europe’s fleet, marking another step forward in the companies’ longstanding partnership and a significant upgrade in offshore connectivity.

The deployment integrates Starlink’s HTS into COSL’s hybrid communications network, boosting performance for operations in the North Sea and Barents Sea. The upgrade is managed through Speedcast’s SIGMA platform - an intelligent edge technology designed to orchestrate multiple connectivity paths, including Starlink and Eutelsat OneWeb LEO systems, traditional Ku- and C-band VSAT, LTE, line-of-sight, and Iridium Certus. The result is a seamless, resilient network that supports everything from remote operations to crew welfare.

Speedcast’s HTS integration isn't just about better bandwidth; it's about creating a robust digital backbone for COSL’s offshore drilling operations. Unlike the more familiar Starlink Global Priority service, HTS involves bonding multiple user terminals to allocate dedicated network capacity and beam resources to each site. In real-world testing, the configuration delivered download speeds of up to 1.6 Gbps and upload rates of 400 Mbps across four bonded Starlink kits - with latency and packet loss held impressively low, even under heavy network load.

The timing couldn’t be more critical. As COSL continues to digitize its operations with a focus on safety, efficiency, and sustainability, this connectivity enhancement provides the infrastructure needed for real-time data sharing, IoT monitoring, remote control of systems, and improved quality of life for onboard crews.

This move follows Speedcast’s earlier upgrades to COSL’s hybrid connectivity environment in April, which included expanding multipath connectivity for operational demands and safety systems. The integration of Starlink HTS further strengthens that setup, with SIGMA handling intelligent path selection, load balancing, and application-based traffic prioritization to maintain 100% uptime across the fleet.

Beyond operational upgrades, the system enhances crew welfare by supporting personal device access and entertainment, while COSL can use Speedcast’s Compass Portal to monitor and manage network performance across remote sites in real time.

Speedcast is increasingly positioning itself as a leader in low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite integration, holding the top spot globally in Starlink kit sales, activations, and licenses. The company is also rolling out Starlink’s Private Network Interconnect (PNI) service, which enables secure, low-latency connections between remote sites and data centers by bypassing the public internet. After launching the PNI service in the U.S. last month, Speedcast is preparing expansions into South America and Europe.

For COSL, the connectivity boost is a tangible reflection of its forward-thinking approach to offshore drilling. And for Speedcast, it’s another proof point of the company’s ability to deliver managed, hybrid networks that keep even the most remote operations connected, secure, and efficient.