Geolink fits GSM system on transatlantic vessel http://www.geolink.com BODY French satellite communications company Geolink claims to be the first company to install a GSM communications system onboard a transatlantic vessel. Customers onboard the M/V Discovery, operated by "Discovery World Cruises," which makes crossings between Europe and North America, as well as running to Antarctica and across the Pacific Ocean, are now able to make GSM mobile phone calls onboard, with the communications carried from ship to shore using the shipboard VSAT communications system. They are also able to send and receive SMS (short message service) messages. Geolink has also fitted its OceanCell system onboard 16 other European vessels, one cruise ship and 15 ferries. It has a backlog of 15 vessels to be equipped during 2004, The Oceancell service enables mobile phones, in both GSM and American PCS, to be used onboard ships with the roaming principle. The revenue from the calls is split between the mobile phone companies, Oceancell and the cruise and ferry companies. Geolink says that a 1900 passenger ferry, which carries on average 600 passenger trips, generates typically 15,000 minutes per month. Passengers are typically billed Eur 2.8 per minute for calls from ferries and Eur 4.4 per minute for calls from cruise ships. Geolink notes that the portion which the shipping company gets depends on how much they are prepared to invest in the service (for example covering the costs of cabling), but it is, in any case "a very comfortable part of the cake," the company says. Most installations can carry 6 to 21 simultaneous phone calls. SUBHEAD The system Geolink handles all the billing; the shipping company has no cost and no risk. However it does need to have a VSAT communications system onboard for it to work. If the vessel does not have a VSAT communications system, the GSM revenues can help finance it; the VSAT can then be used for low cost company and seafarer data and voice communications as well. At Geolink's expense, the vessel is equipped with pico-antennas in areas of the ship that coverage is require, for example, swimming pools and cabins, excluding theatres and dining rooms. Each pico-antenna has about 100th of the power of one mobile phone antenna, to make sure there are no health and safety issues. Geolink has an automatic network detection device which shuts down the shipboard GSM system if there is any other GSM system available (for example when the vessel is near coastlines). The company does not have licenses to operate GSM services on or near land; terrestrial GSM operators have paid, in most cases, large amounts of money for their licenses to operate in the different countries. Geolink is not able to offer what would effectively be competing GSM services through its satellite connection when the ship is in port. The vessel should not need to acquire any additional bandwidth to run the service; the system uses around 0.5 kbps permanently and then additional bandwidth (eg 9.6kbps) for each call which is made. Calls can be routed from the VSAT gateway via a leased line to the GSM roaming site. Oceancell has already made over 1000 different roaming agreements with GSM operators around the world. SUBHEAD Incoming calls Geolink notes that ships with its Oceancell service can make more money than ships with shipboard payphones, because the Oceancell allows passengers to receive calls as well as make them. Passengers can receive SMS messages onboard ships and also call their voicemail boxes to pick up messages. "We have noticed that a very important volume of communications is generated through incoming calls," says Constantin Simeonidis, Geolink's director of development and vice-president. SUBHEAD Who uses it? Geolink claims that many business travellers are happy to be able to use their phones onboard ferries and do not care about the additional costs. "Conclusions based on a survey we conducted, show that especially in the ferry market industry, recurrent travellers preferred Oceancell equipped vessels and uses their phones for business purposes, regardless the price of calls," says Mr Simeonidis. "Cruise and ferry vessels are among the last places on the earth where there is a very high concentration of humans per square meter and where still the mobile phones cannot be used." "Mobile phones are nowadays everywhere and people cannot understand why their use would be restricted while onboard." "This is now a mature market and Oceancell brings a very important service to the cruise and ferry industry for the satisfaction of the clientele." "Oceancell benefits to the whole 'image' of the company who installed this service on their boats and gives a perfect subject for their marketing and communication department," he says. "People are attracted by those companies giving innovative and flexible solutions." Geolink notes that the itinerary is a crucial factor for ferry companies in whether or not the service is worthwhile; if the ferry spends most of its time within terrestrial GSM coverage areas then there is no point to the service. "In a very short period of time all major cruise and ferry companies will provide this service," says Mr Simeonidis. "No one can afford the idea that its competitor has it, offering a value-added service and increasing revenues, while he has only to offer obsolete payphones." In the future, ferries and cruise ships are also likely to offer wi-fi internet connectivity services, he notes, allowing passengers to access the internet from personal computers. SUBHEAD Competition As far as the competition goes (companies Altobridge, Maritime Communications Partner, also offering GSM services for ships) Geolink says it is currently the only one running a commercial service. "We noticed that since few months, some companies are trying out to conceive a service but no one has a commercially tested and finished product to propose," it claims. "By the past a similar solution was proposed but lack of suitable technical and financial structure it failed. Up to now, Oceancell is unique and we are the only ones running a commercial service."