Now that I have your attention…
It was a typically bravura performance. Inmarsat gathered 100 or so of its close friends – DPs, SPs and interested parties – to a ‘Maritime Update’ at SMM 2012, in the process no doubt hoping to lay to rest a pretty tortuous first half with some banner announcements.
And they didn’t disappoint. Inmarsat Maritime CEO Frank Coles announced a brace of milestones intended to kill off once and for all the noise around Inmarsat’s new competition and firm up the path to Global Xpress.
Joined by company ceo Rupert Pearce and GX managing director Leo Mondale , Coles reinforced the good news story of Fleetbroadband while announcing a new ‘unlimited data’ fixed fee FBB package which he claimed would satisfy operational and crew data requirements with remote IT support for a retail price of $2,700 per month.
That puts the FBB offer close to the VSAT sweetspot cost wise, though with some caveats on best effort and fair usage, lest anyone think this is a truly ‘unlimited’ offer. Coles said the package was a long term commitment, with no plans to drop it once GX is operational.
The offer’s advantage – available on either FB250 and FB500 through a single terminal would not conflict with Xpress Link he insisted because the latter’s higher committed information rate was a purer VSAT offer than its L-band alternative.
The FBB package is designed to see off competition from Pharostar and KVH though it is hard to judge how this offer will affect uptake of GX or indeed XpressLink by offering the industry a cheaper, faster alternative over a managed network. XpressLink still had a role to play Coles said and the recent addition of a couple of new customers must have given some confidence here.
The second plank was the announcement of two value-added resellers for Global Xpress – GMPCS and Telemar – as well as the signing up of Japan Radio Company as a hardware partner with plans to develop connectivity solutions, including integration to bridge systems.
Inmarsat was also able to top the process off by a day later announcing Netherlands-based heavy lift shipping company Jumbo as an XpressLink customer. The scope of the agreement includes the option for a free upgrade to Global Xpress in 2014.