Tampnet, a Norway-headquartered provider of offshore high-capacity and low-latency connectivity services, has signed a long-term mobile-sharing agreement with Dutch mobile phone company ODIDO Netherlands covering assets in the North Sea.
Under the deal, the two will share offshore mobile networks in European waters and the Dutch continental shelf, allowing over 100,000 offshore workers and visitors to use them without roaming fees as part of the EU’s Roam Like at Home regime. The new network will be shown on devices as ODIDO@SEA.
“This partnership means that offshore workers can finally stay connected without worrying about the high roaming costs. For people working weeks at sea, being able to use their phones like at home is more than convenience – it’s quality of life,” noted Elie Hanna , CEO at Tampnet.
In addition to the Netherlands, Tampnet already operates close to 300,000 square kilometres of mobile LTE coverage in the North Sea, spanning the UK, Danish, and Norwegian continental shelves. The latest deal will create what the Norwegian player claims is the largest and most integrated offshore mobile network in Europe.
ODIDO’s CEO Søren Abildgaard said that connectivity is a basic expectation both in cities and at sea . “By teaming up with Tampnet, we’re making sure our customers and partners can work, connect and share from offshore installations and vessels with the same confidence and simplicity they enjoy on land.”
The partnership entails ODIDO sharing its offshore sites with Tampnet, handing over operational responsibility while maintaining its mobile services. Additionally, KPN and Vodafone Netherlands users will also get extended offshore coverage under their existing roaming agreements.
Tampnet believes the agreement paves the way for advanced mobile services at sea, including the deployment of 5G standalone and network slicing to support mission-critical services, push-to-talk (PTT/MCX) for public safety and enterprise users, and collaboration on private 5G networks and edge computing for offshore platforms.
This follows two deals the service provider secured in August, one to provide a private 4G/5G network on the Island Innovator harsh-environment rig, and the other to equip FPSO Jotun working at the Balder field with a full private multi-access edge compute (PMEC)-enabled private network .