Global tug operator KOTUG International has completed a trial of Inmarsat’s Fleet Xpress high-speed broadband solution in Western Australia, resulting in KOTUG’s commitment to Fleet Xpress for this area of the Asia Pacific region.

SRH Marine Electronics and Inmarsat have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which will see the companies collaborate on the management of ECDIS updates via Inmarsat’s FleetBroadband service.

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.