Island Innovator offshore rig. Photo: Tampnet

Offshore connectivity provider Tampnet secured a five-year contract to supply managed connectivity services for the Island Drilling offshore rig Island Innovator. The service includes Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite backhaul from both Starlink and OneWeb, integrated with the Tampnet North Sea LTE and T-FAST microwave/fiber backbone.

Tampnet uses AI-driven orchestration to route traffic for a fully managed private 4G/5G network. The company said this approach provides performance and resiliency and will enable Island Drilling to scale into use cases such as predictive maintenance, digital twins, and autonomous inspections.” 

Financial terms of the contract were not disclosed. The Island Innovator is an offshore drilling rig designed for the Norwegian Continental Shelf. The deployment is set to be fully operational before the rig’s next campaign in the fourth quarter of 2025.

“The Island Innovator operates in some of the world’s toughest conditions. Tampnet’s multi-layer network and private 5G capability will let our crews work smarter and safer while enabling our rig for the digital future,” commented Island Drilling CEO Roger Simmens.