Do Satcom voice communications suffer similar degradation in these conditions? If there was any sense of urgency, I'm sure I wouldn't be tapping at a keyboard for several minutes
@NSEU:
No not from lightning, but SATCOM is known to unreliable when the aircraft is pitching about from any turbulence encountered. Did this aircraft have SATCOM voice capabilities? My first thought would be no as it is not common.
Typing an 80 character message on the FMS for ACARS transmission takes me and crew about 30-40 seconds.