Thailand-based shipowner Tipco Maritime Company has installed a new hybrid satellite-GSM (LTE) communications package from Globecomm, connected and managed via Globecomm’s Nimbus network management system.

The International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) has formally approved Inmarsat’s Fleet Safety service for use as part of the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS), in line with a recommendation from the Sub-Committee on Navigation, Communications and Search and Rescue (NCSR) made at the end of February.

Inmarsat has published its Q1 2018 financial results, showing a small increase in maritime revenues as its installed base of Fleet Xpress customers continues to grow.

Inmarsat and Intellian report that they have signed an outline agreement covering the design and manufacture of a new generation of FleetBroadband terminals, supporting both the existing I-4 satellite network as well as Inmarsat’s planned sixth generation I-6 satellite constellation, the first of which is scheduled for launch in 2020.

Inmarsat has announced a deal with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) to act as the launch provider for the first satellite in the Inmarsat-6 fleet (I-6 F1), under construction by Airbus Defence and Space and scheduled for launch in 2020.

Inmarsat has reported its financial results for the first half of 2017, with maritime revenue for the six months down by 3.9 per cent to $278.4 million compared with the same period last year, as customers move from FleetBroadband on to VSAT services.

Cobham SATCOM reports that it has passed the milestone of delivering its 50,000th SAILOR FleetBroadband terminal, ten years after the system was launched in parallel with Inmarsat’s L-band maritime satcom service in 2007.

IMO’s continuing process of modernising GMDSS has seen delegates at a Navigation, Communications and Search and Rescue (NCSR) Sub-Committee meeting in March put Inmarsat’s FleetBroadband system forward to undergo technical assessment by IMSO (International Mobile Satellite Organization) pursuant to future inclusion as a compliant service, with a report to be provided for consideration by the next NCSR in 2018.

Hapag-Lloyd has agreed a five-year deal with Inmarsat to migrate approximately 80 owned ships to services enabled for Fleet Xpress.

Inmarsat CEO Rupert Pearce says that he is aiming to introduce 10 Mbps services on FleetBroadband in the early part of the next decade, once the company has completed the launch of its Inmarsat-6 generation of satellites.