B747-400 EXPERIENCES LOSS OF COM CAPABILITY ON POLAR ROUTE.

Narrative

AT APPROX XA10Z THE DATALINK AND SATVOICE WENT DEAD AS INDICATED ON THE EICAS AMBER. WE WERE STILL ABLE TO WORK ON 1 HF ONLY; AS THE OTHER WAS SCRATCHY AND UNUSABLE. THE HF CAME IN AT NO MORE THAN A 2 X 2 SCALE. OUR CONCERN WAS MAINTAINING OPS INTEGRITY VIA SOME FORM OF LINK WITH DISPATCH. FORTUNATELY; I HAD REQUESTED WORKING FREQS WITH DISPATCH. UPLOADED FREQS WERE 11342/11348/6640. MY FO TRIED THESE AND ABOUT 20 OTHER LDOC FREQS; TO NO AVAIL. AT XB26 THE SATVOICE AND DATALINK AGAIN BECAME OPERABLE. WE WERE INCAPABLE OF RECEIVING OR TALKING WITH OUR DISPATCH FOR OVER 1 HR 15 MINS. THIS IS STRANGE FOR THIS TO HAPPEN AT THIS TIME OF YR; AND ON POLAR 3. CALLBACK CONVERSATION WITH RPTR REVEALED THE FOLLOWING INFO: REPORTER EMPHASIZED THAT ALL COM CAPABILITY WAS LOST; ATC AS WELL AS COMPANY RADIO. HE ADVISED THAT HE HAS REFUSED TO FLY POLAR ROUTES ONE AND TWO BECAUSE OF REPEATED SIMILAR COM FAILURES AND FLIES ROUTE THREE WITH SOME TREPIDATION. HIS AIRLINE HAD; AT ONE POINT; AGREED TO GET MORE UP TO DATE 'IRIDIUM' BASED LONG RANGE COM EQUIPMENT BUT BUDGET CONSIDERATIONS CAUSED THEM TO RESCIND THE PROGRAM.