Archive for the 'Inmarsat' Category
Jan 12, 2010, post by Artur Ślesik
INTERNATIONAL. OnAir, the world’s leading provider of inflight communications, today announced agreement to install OnAir inflight passenger connectivity services on Afriqiyah Airways’ entire Airbus long range and short range fleets.
In phase one of this agreement, OnAir will install the full connectivity suite (Mobile OnAir and Internet OnAir) on the Airline’s A330 fleet.
In phase two Mobile OnAir will be installed on the Airline’s Airbus A320/A319 fleet. Passengers will be able to stay connected inflight using their own mobile phones or BlackBerry®-type devices to make and receive phone calls, send and receive emails and text messages, and access the Internet.
Afriqiyah’s decision to install inflight connectivity across its entire long and short haul Airbus fleets is a first in the industry and underlines the importance airlines attach to providing their passengers with such services as we head into a new decade.”
Mobile OnAir uses the industry’s most advanced and extensive infrastructure for mobile communications, along with Inmarsat SwiftBroadband, high capacity services from Inmarsat 4th generation satellites. This gives passengers and airlines the best reach and performance available today.
Afriqiyah Airways (AAW) decision comes amidst mounting demand for inflight passenger communications. A growing number of commercial airlines and private aviation companies either currently offer OnAir inflight communications services or will offer them in the near future.
Dec 30, 2009, post by Artur Ślesik
U.K.-based mobile satellite operator Inmarsat plans to start providing mobile satellite services in Russia in 2010, the company’s Chief Operating Officer Perry Melton said in an interview with PRIME-TASS.
“In mid-2010, we will start sales of dual mode cell phones supporting both satellite communications (standard) and mobile communications standard GSM-900. We regard the Russian market as quite ready for such an offer; besides, we are reducing prices for mobile voice services, which allows offering them to quite a wide audience,” Melton said.
Another key task of Inmarsat on the Russian market is the development of broadband services, according to Melton. “Promotion of our broadband services in land, sea, and air segments in Russia is certainly a very important task,” he said, adding that Inmarsat has ambitious plans in this field. “We expect, in particular, to introduce jointly with (Russian flag carrier) Aeroflot Russian Airlines broadband service on aircraft during flights,” Melton said.
When asked about Inmarsat’s possible competition in the future with Russia’s Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS), which is currently used by Inmarsat in some solutions, Melton said he doubted that GLONASS would be a rival of Inmarsat’s own systems, as GLONASS was a navigation system, while Inmarsat focused primarily on communications services.
Among Russian customers of Inmarsat, Melton named state-controlled natural gas giant Gazprom, state-owned railroad monopoly Russian Railways, the Russian Navy, the Central Bank of Russia (CBR), and Russian shipping companies.
In total, Inmarsat has about 60,000 customers globally, 33,000 of them being subscribers to Inmarsat’s broadband services, Melton said.
Dec 30, 2009, post by Artur Ślesik
SATELLITE communications provider Inmarsat is hoping its recent launch of new products will help it ride through the downturn by offering more reasonably priced services for cash-strapped companies.
‘We started the year being cautiously optimistic because although we know we have a strong portfolio and a capable set of distribution partners, one thing that was on our mind was the appetite of the markets that we deal with, maritime and land mobile, given the economic challenges they were facing,’ said Inmarsat vice-president of sales and marketing Chris D’Aguiar.
However, the leading satellite communications provider has found that uptake of their services has remained strong despite the tighter purse-strings of ship owners and operators.
More than 50 per cent of Inmarsat’s revenue comes from the maritime sector and Asia contributes about 25 per cent to 33 per cent of FleetBroadband revenues. The latest FleetBroadband 150 service, which is the lowest end of the FleetBroadband range, has been doing quite well in Europe and Mr D’Aguiar sees potential for it to grow further in Asia. ‘Interestingly enough, FB150 which was launched quite recently is now making up a fair percentage of that total not just from the traditional markets (of merchant and offshore vessels) but … for the coastal market which once again the Asia-Pacific is really quite rich in.’
According to Lloyd’s Register Fairplay figures, there are about 80,000 vessels in the coastal market and Inmarsat is only in a small percentage of that market currently. Mr D’Aguiar is fairly optimistic about the growth prospects for the FB150 in combination with Inmarsat’s soon-to-be- launched iSat Phone Pro among the markets in the Asia-Pacific, although he declined to give specific targets. ‘There’s a huge opportunity there and we are planning to capitalise upon it,’ he said.
Inmarsat’s third-quarter maritime sector revenue rose by 9.2 per cent, principally driven by data services, which grew by 13.1 per cent. This growth was dominated by demand for Fleet and FleetBroadband services, supported by resilient usage levels on older services, such as Inmarsat-B. Contributing to growth in active terminals of 12.0 per cent, Inmarsat saw strong sales of Fleet and FleetBroadband terminals, with the third quarter being the strongest quarter of net additions in the year and with FleetBroadband sales more than double sales of Fleet in the quarter.
