Mobile Satellite Communication Services News

Earlier this summer Maritime Reporter & Engineering News ventured to Ålesund/Sunnmøre area of western Norway visiting local manufacturers and suppliers serving the global maritime industry and featuring a series of business and technology presentations by leading sector companies including Inmarsat, VARD Group, Ulstein Group, Brunvoll, Ulmatec, Jets, ABB Marine & Ports, Fostech AS and Rolls-Royce Marine. Tom Mulligan reports on new business developments and technology innovations…

Inmarsat, a provider of global mobile satellite communication services, today announced that Frontline, the world leader in the international seaborne transportation of crude oil, has committed to Inmarsat XpressLink for more than 100 vessels from its existing fleet and its planned new builds. “We evaluated the providers and made a purely commercial decision about XpressLink from Inmarsat,” said Kjell S. Langva of Frontline Management AS. “The choice was made after a year of positive experience with VSAT from Ship Equip”. “The cost-benefit profile and the unmatched failover capability, which offers unlimited usage on Inmarsat FleetBroadband, was key to the decision. Also Inmarsat’s ability to deliver made up the additional element in making the choice,” he said.

As you know, maritime piracy has been in the news lately. As of Feb. 28, the International Maritime Bureau Piracy Reporting Center (http://www.icc-ccs.org/home/piracy-reporting-centre/piracynewsafigures) reported that pirates were holding 33 merchant vessels and 711 crewmembers pending ransoms. In 2011 alone, these gangs captured 13 ships and 243 hostages - an average of more than one ship per week. The seafarers are being used as human shields to forestall rescue attempts by military teams, and are being subjected to increasing levels of severe mistreatment by their captors – including torture and even execution. Despite the presence of scores of warships from multiple navies…

Telenor Satellite Services announced that it has formed a new company, Marlink, to provide a wide range of mobile satellite communication services, mainly for customers in the maritime sector. Marlink will act as a 'multi-supplier' of mobile satellite airtime providing communication services from a number of suppliers, including but not limited to Telenor. Marlink will also provide traffic accounting services, hardware and value-added services. "Marlink will be able to provide customers with flexible communication package solutions matching their specific needs and choices in this rapidly changing market. "In launching the new company…

An international business group lead by Compagnia Generale Telemar S.p.A. in Italy and Lagumar Marine AB in Sweden has formed Telemar Scandinavia AB which has acquired 100 percent of the shares in Telia Maricom AB. The acquired Telia Company, operating under the new name of Telemar Satellite Services AB, is taking over all Telia’s businesses and activities within the area of mobile satellite communication, including Inmarsat, Iridium, Globalstar as well as e-mail and data services via satellite and the Swedish telex network. The present staff from Telia Maricom AB is also joining the new company. Telemar Scandinavia will also take over the state-of-the-art DVP/IP platforms for asymmetric broadband services, recently acquired from Telia’s Satellite Division.

As per the company's Board of Directors, Inmarsat has decided, after a comprehensive detailed analysis, that it will not be proceeding any further with direct investment in ICO Global Communications (Holdings) as it is not sufficiently compatible with Inmarsat's future growth strategy. "Our strategy is to focus on delivering global high bandwidth integrated multimedia mobile satellite communication services to the corporate market, and we are aggressively developing our business growth strategy in line with this," said Michael Storey, Inmarsat's president and CEO.