Marine Electronics
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Before heading out on your world boat tour, it’s a good idea to find what communication gear you will need for your trip. However, the greatest communication gear won’t do you much good, if you can’t connect to a global communications service provider. And that’s why it’s important to know exactly what oceanic regions your communications provider covers.
In the past, before you sailed out to sea, you would need to arrange different providers for different oceanic regions. However, with the evolution of satellite networks, more satellite network companies are expected to offer complete global broadband coverage, eliminating the need to use different satellite communication service providers.
KVH Industries (Nasdaq: KVHI), for example, announced that because of its new network license for broadband and voice coverage in the Indian Ocean, it now provides a complete global seamless satellite network coverage. According to Brent C. Bruun, KVH’s vice president of satellite sales and business development, “We are very gratified to have license authority to provide broadband communications and voice service to mobile subscribers in the Indian Ocean region. The activation of our Ku-band VSAT service in this region in April will be a major milestone for mini-VSAT Broadband. This versatile network will then truly span the globe, enabling mariners to circumnavigate without ever leaving the mini-VSAT Broadband coverage area. No other Ku-band VSAT service provider can match this combination of seamless service, spread spectrum-based efficiency and affordability, and our fully integrated hardware solution.”
Once the JSCAT-85 satellite is on line, sometime in April 2010, KVH and ViaSat together will offer not only satellite communication services in the Indian Ocean but also “seamless global broadband connectivity for vessels and aircraft.” Making the connection between vessels and aircraft will be through ViaSat Yonder, an in-flight broadband network for business and commercial aircraft.
The service will bring broadband Internet and voice service, at access rates of 512 Kbps (upload) and 2 Mbps (download) at fixed monthly rates to all the commercial and consumer maritime markets.
The complete maritime communications package will bring together ViaSat’s VSAT Broadband service, KVH’s TracPhone V7 antenna, a 24 inch antenna, and a network of seven high powered communication satellites to provide two-way mobile broadcast services around the globe.
The hookup between ViaSat and KVH is considered good news for those that want dependable global communications services. ViaSat, one of the leading providers of advanced satellite network hardware products and communications services, just recently completed an initial public offering of common stock. Net proceeds of the offering were estimated at $100.5 million.
