Nera Gets Inmarsat Type Approval for F33 Terminal

The Nera F33 maritime communications terminal has received type approval from Inmarsat on May 9. The Nera F33 is the first terminal to be approved for the Inmarsat Fleet F33 service concept. The F33 system, mainly targeted at yachts, fishing and vessels operating within the Inmarsat spot beam areas, is geared to be a solution that provides reliable and cost effective communications facilities, previously only available on larger ships. The on-board Nera F33 terminal and antenna are small, lightweight and ideally suited to fit smaller vessels. In addition to data communications capabilities within Inmarsat's regional spot-beam coverage, F33's voice coverage extends to Inmarsat's full global Ocean Regions. The Nera F33 provides voice, fax and medium speed data transmission in addition to the Mobile Packet Data (MPDS) service already available with Fleet F77. MPDS allows fast and cost-efficient Internet and e-mail services, as users pay only for data transmitted rather than the connection time.