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By Larry Pearson We are all familiar with their names…Alltel, T-Mobile, Verizon, Virgin Mobile and others. These are the giants in the cellular telephone industry. Recently there have been buying wars among these giants, trying to increase market share from a "talk happy" nation. But if you are trying to call to or from the Gulf of Mexico add another name to your list: PetroCom. PetroCom LLC, Harahan, La. has engineered and installed the first all digital cellular communication network in the Gulf of Mexico. The network delivers approximately 100,000 square miles of coverage in the GOM. In 1982, a Motorola engineer founded PetroCom to establish reliable communications sevice in the GOM. From a technical standpoint, the company knew that it did not want to use microwave towers as the system back- bone. "Too unreliable," said current presi- dent and Chief Operating Officer Ken Wright. Instead, PetroCom based their system on C-band satellite service. The network grew to include 30 remote cell sites (located on oil/gas platforms) and 16 cell extenders. The coverage extends from South Texas to Mobile Bay and as far as 180 miles into the Gulf. The service was analog and was quite adequate for the time. Land based cellular networks at the time were also based on analog technology and although mobile, early cell phones were quite bulky as those who remember the old "telephone in a bag" will attest. In 2004, PetroCom installed the first digital communications service in the GOM that was basically an overlay to their current analog service from a cover- age standpoint. Working with Ericsson and Siemans, PetroCom upgraded its cellular communi- cations system to the world's leading wireless global standard, GSM or Global System for Mobile Communications. This standard already serves over one billion subscribers in more than 200 countries. Siemans is providing base station equipment and Ericsson provides the net- work switching technology and it is through these industry leaders through which PetroCom is delivering its network. PetroCom has deployed this system for delivery of advanced mobile data services such as video downloading, full multime- dia messaging, high-speed color Internet access and email on the move. "We built and installed this system in about 120 days last summer," Wright said. "Our digital cellular service is absolute- ly seamless and offers advanced features 20 • MarineNews • August, 2005 COMMUNICATIONS The Cellular Giant in the GOM One of the more than 50 cell sites in the Gulf of Mexico that is the backbone of the PetroCom cell network. This site is on a platform in the East Cameron Block. AUGUSTMN2005 3(17-24).qxd 8/1/2005 4:15 PM Page 20
