Telephone Services News

U.K. based marine services contractor Inchcape Shipping Services Holdings Limited and several of its subsidiaries have agreed to pay $20 million to resolve allegations that they violated the False Claims Act by knowingly overbilling the U.S. Navy under contracts for ship husbanding services, the U.S. Department of Justice announced.Inchcape provided goods and services, including food and other subsistence items, waste removal, telephone services, ship-to-shore transportation, force protection services and local transportation…

Telecommunications firm Italtel has been selected to renew the communications network of British/American owned Italian cruise shipping company Costa Cruises. Under the contract, Italtel will implement a updated integrated communication system, based on IP protocol and capable of delivering new services. Costa Cruises was previously equipped with a voice-based infrastructure on a different set of local exchanges directly connected to the traditional telephone network. Although these guaranteed basic telephone services…

The government has announced  that it has joined a lawsuit alleging that Inchcape Shipping Services Holdings Limited and certain of its subsidiaries (collectively, Inchcape) violated the False Claims Act by knowingly overbilling the U.S. Navy for ship husbanding services from years 2005 to 2014. Inchcape is a marine services contractor headquartered in the United Kingdom. As a ship husbanding services provider, Inchcape arranged for the provision of goods and services to Navy ships at ports in several regions throughout the world, including southwest Asia, Africa, Panama, North America, South America and Mexico. Inchcape’s services typically included the provision of food and other subsistence items…

KVH provides and Harvey Gulf employs possibly the most sophisticated on-board SATCOM and related service package on the water. That’s no accident. If quality service, high tech hardware and quality personnel are the common bonds shared by marine communications provider KVH and its customer Harvey Gulf International Marine, then the relationship is probably a match made in heaven. Harvey Gulf, already a long-time user of the KVH suite of services and equipment, is today converting every vessel in their rapidly expanding 60+ fleet to the latest and greatest equipment standard. From where they sit, that means KVH. For its part, the business relationship allows KVH to showcase to every other customer and potential user as to what is actually possible at sea in today’s environment.

Airbus Defence and Space has launched XChange v3, the latest evolution of its XChange communications platform, which is set to further improve the flow of operational data between ship and shore through sophisticated voice and connectivity service management. XChange is an all-in-one solution to manage communications services in an easy and intuitive way. It gives more control with less operational overhead while on board administrative tasks can also be out-sourced to onshore offices.

Moscow stocks fall 10 pct, rouble down 2.5 pct over war jitters. Ukraine border guards say build-up of Russian armoured vehicles near Crimea. EU ministers meet but no immediate sanctions expected. Russia took a financial hit over its military intervention in neighbouring Ukraine, with its markets and currency plunging on Monday as President Vladimir Putin's forces tightened their grip on the Russian-speaking Crimea region. The Moscow stock market fell by 10 percent and the central bank spent $10 billion of its reserves to prop up the rouble as investors took fright at escalating tensions with the West over the former Soviet republic.

Marlink has renewed its agreement with German cruise operator Hapag-Lloyd Cruises for a further five years. As part of the renewed contract, Marlink will continue to operate its Sealink(TM) VSAT services onboard all four of Hapag-Lloyd Cruises' ships, providing additional bandwidth of up to 1024 Kbps for business-critical telephone and data services as well as Internet and telephone services for passengers and crew. Marlink's latest agreement with Hapag-Lloyd Cruises is a continuation of the relationship initially established in 2004 with the installation of Sealink(TM) onboard the cruise operator's flagship MS Europa. Since then, Marlink has expanded its services to include all four of Hapag-Lloyd Cruises' vessels.

Xantic has become the first company to announce the availability of the new Fleet 33 and Fleet 55 services. Last Friday a contract was signed with Nera for upgrades of both Xantic Land Earth StationsLES’s in Holland (Burum) and Australia (Perth). The services will be available early April and will be provided in the 4 Ocean regions. At the same time Xantic’s Fleet 77 service will be enhanced by the addition of a 9.6k fax channel. Fleet 33 / Fleet 55 are the new Inmarsat services specifically targeted at smaller vessels who have data requirements. Prime segments include yachts, fishing, coast guards and coastal commercial coastal vessels operating within the Inmarsat spot beams.

communication services for the maritime market. upgrade program with Nera. operation in April this year. areas. ships. solutions onboard larger ocean going vessels. vessels. maritime Inmarsat services. to benefit of the improved maritime access to data services. are out at sea. solutions," says Terje Ask Henriksen, President Nera SatCom.

Stratos Global Corporation has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Shell Offshore Inc.'s telecommunications subsidiary, Shell Offshore Services Company (SOSCo). The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions. "The acquisition of SOSCo is consistent with Stratos' long-term strategy of providing communications solutions to high volume industrial customers operating in remote locations," explains Derek Woods, president and CEO of Stratos. Based in New Orleans, SOSCo uses a state-of-the-art digital microwave system to provide voice, data and video services, Internet access and network connectivity to more than 250 remote drilling rigs and production platforms located offshore in the Gulf of Mexico.