Press release -
Marlink: Marlink first to introduce prepaid cards for voice calls on Inmarsat Fleet Xpress
New offering helps crew members to manage cost of calling home on Inmarsat’s new high speed satellite communications service
Oslo / Paris, 31 January 2018: Marlink has become the first Inmarsat Fleet Xpress Value Added Reseller (VAR) to provide customers with a prepaid voice card calling facility, giving seafarers a low-cost and easy to manage way to call family and friends ashore. The prepaid facility is available through Marlink’s established Universal Card, Universal Card Go and Prepaid Talk products, making it easy for ship owners to start offering the service and providing familiarity for the crew members using it.
Simplifying the process for both ship owners and end-users, all prepaid minutes on Marlink’s standard calling cards can be used on either the Ka-band Global Xpress (GX) or back-up L-band FleetBroadband elements of the Fleet Xpress service. The same prepaid minutes can also be used on other Marlink services including Ku and C-band VSAT, so regardless of the connectivity service available, seafarers need just one card to make calls to both terrestrial and mobile numbers.
“We are removing the cost uncertainty of calling home and allowing ship owners to provide easy access to reliable, premium quality voice calling on a global basis by bringing Fleet Xpress into our existing prepaid solutions,” said Tore Morten Olsen, President Maritime, Marlink. “Our latest development for Fleet Xpress confirms our focus to provide the smartest solutions regardless of connectivity, including our ability to offer an exclusive portfolio of powerful business critical and administration solutions to end-users that choose Fleet Xpress through Marlink.”
As a technology and frequency agnostic satellite service provider, Marlink was early to fully integrate Fleet Xpress into its global network by establishing interconnection at all three ‘meet me’ points; one for each GX region. This enables Marlink to make its portfolio of established and innovative Value Added Solutions available to Fleet Xpress users, such as the online service monitoring site Portal360 and SkyFile email and anti-virus products. It also allows Marlink to deliver an extra Quality of Service (QoS) layer through user-defined traffic prioritising, which ensures bandwidth is always available for the most important applications.
The continued integration of Global Xpress also enables Marlink to proactively report fully on the status of Fleet Xpress voice and data services in addition to showing when and why a vessel is not operating on the primary GX bearer. By giving access to reports including traffic statistics, real-time position of vessels, sailing routes, SNR stats, and networks and satellite beams currently being used, Marlink offers more pro-active support ensuring higher uptime and a faster response for troubleshooting. Marlink continues to develop its monitoring and reporting tools for Fleet Xpress, and will release more solutions designed to deliver operational continuity during 2018.
Ends
For further information, please contact:
Knut Natvig, Marlink
T: +47 48 030 911
E: knut.natvig@marlink.com
About Fleet Xpress
Fleet Xpress delivers a unique, fully integrated dual capability of high speed, high capacity Global Xpress service together with high reliability safety-level services (FleetBroadband) in a single commercial package which is available anywhere in the world. Fleet Xpress is further enriched by Inmarsat Gateway, a unique service enablement platform designed to provide ship owners, managers and operators with access to a new generation of value-added maritime applications, services and solutions.
About the Marlink Group
Through its ownership of Marlink, Telemar and Palantir, Apax Partners has created a new powerful Group dedicated to providing maritime and enterprise customers with an integrated offering of reliable broadband communications, digital solutions, bridge electronics and flexible service & maintenance.
Combining the power of these expert organisations, the Marlink Group delivers complete connectivity and IT solutions to maritime and enterprise companies globally. It provides an unrivalled portfolio of multi-band communication solutions covering Ku-, Ka-, C- and L-band services extended with mobile and terrestrial links and an industry-unique range of digital solutions. Telemar, as part of the Group, is a recognised supplier for bridge electronics and on-board maintenance services. The Group is completed by Palantir, which specialises in remote IT management solutions and IT services on board.
The expertise of the Marlink Group, combined with its strong satellite network operator and manufacturer partnerships as well as IT network expertise, enables it to bring the power of broadband communications, bridge and electronics technology and service excellence to customers globally, providing tailored connectivity solutions that enable both maritime and enterprise customers globally to digitalise their operations at sea and on land.
Today the Marlink Group has more than 800 employees worldwide and provides customers with unrivalled service and support through an enhanced global footprint and worldwide sales and service locations. A global 24/7 helpdesk, specialised competence centres, local presence on all continents and a network of 1250 service points and partners staffed by highly qualified, certified service engineers, supports global customers to operate their business in an ever smarter, safer and more profitable way. The Group is led by Erik Ceuppens as CEO.
