View non-flash version
SatCom Report The Storm Before The Calm? Advances in satellite communication product and service technology seem to have out- paced many of the markets they seek to serve. However, despite some jittery times for the big three global satcom providers, it appears that maritime and offshore markets stand to gain real, bottom-line-driven results by adopting the latest communication technology solu- tions. The maritime industry has traditionally — with its generous mix of large corporate and small independent ownership — taken considerable flak for its collective conservative nature in regards to the integration of advanced technological products and systems onboard vessels, large and small. Much of the criticism is unde- served, as vessel owner operators around the world have embraced advances in propulsion and electronics (although, it must be noted, that many changes have been "forced" by legislative and/or prevailing market demands.) Communication technology advances, particularly the ability to communicate ship-to-ship and ship-to- shore via satellite links, have truly been astounding in the past few years. In general, as the world drives (but sometimes stumbles) toward the theoretical global economy, it becomes more critical that instantaneous communication is always available, from any spot on the earth to any other spot. Enter the "Space Race" 1990s style, with companies investing billions of dollars building global satellite communication coverage. The players — Iridium, Globalstar and ICO —are well known, as they have been covered within these pages as well as those in other business and consumer press for the better part of the decade. But the industry that could seemingly reap a rose from nearly any seed it had sown has suddenly lost a bit of its bloom, at least in investor's eyes, as serious questions are being raised in the wake of Iridi- um's Chapter 11 filing late this summer. At press time Iridium was in full swing re-organizing its balance sheet and marketing plans, and current man- agement seems determined to keep the network, which cost an estimated $6 billion to put in place, alive. Key to the system's future will be the continued commit- ment from Motorola, which owns about 18 percent of the company. Next to step into the box is Globalstar, which was scheduled to debut service on its own $3.8 billion network late last month. Before it even flicked its switch "on," however, Globalstar has already felt the power of association, as investors recent- ly punished the company to the tune of about 30 percent, mostly from the effects of Iridium's troubles. However, Globalstar is betting on its higher flying, less technically complex satellites and more modest pricing (estimated $1,200 to $1,500 for a handset and up to $3 per interna- tional call minute (estimated)) to hit the air run- ning, so to speak, and attract many customers in key markets such as fishing and offshore. (It is worthy to note that Iridium has slashed its prices for both handset and airtime, and today matches those presented by Globalstar). With ICO scheduled to enter the fray next year, the choices of product and system will expand considerably. When the competitive smoke screens do clear, however, it will be abundantly clear that advanced, global communication capabilities will exponentially enhance the process of ship- ping products across the world's oceans, as well as along the millions of miles of coastlines and inland rivers. Every day there are new examples of how companies are using technology to make opera- tions more safe and efficient, from the use of satellite communication to update electronic charts to beaming signals regarding scheduling back to headquarters. As prices drop even fur- ther, new markets will open naturally, much as has happened within the cellular telephone ser- vice community. Crew aboard a variety of smaller workboats and fishing vessels may be compelled to purchase phones and service to keep in touch with family and friends, while innovative operators may even use this type of service to maintain crew loyalty and retention. In the offshore realm, the advent of deepwater oil and gas discovery and recovery mandates communication systems which can adequately service the rigors of the operational environ- ment. And despite the recent downturn in off- shore production around the world, the market is a good long-term bet for providers of advanced satellite communication products and services. According to the U.S. Department of the Interior's Minerals Management Service (MMS), deepwater drilling (1,000 ft. and deeper) shows the greatest poten- tial of development. By year-end 2003, the MMS esti- mates as much as 63 percent of the oil production and 29 percent of the daily gas production will come from deepwater reserves. ARCOMS To Acquire CruisePhone ARCOMS, formerly known as BOATRACS, announced it has entered into a Letter of Intent with a privately-held corpora- tion, CruisePhone, located in Florida. ARCOMS plans to acquire 100 percent of the com- pany's outstanding stock. CruisePhone provides satellite communications services for the cruise and leisure industry, using B.E.S.T. technology — a soft- 54 ware networking solution for satellite communication devel- oped by Innovative Communica- tions Technologies Inc. Circle 92 on Reader Service Card ViaSat Receives $6M Contract From Star ViaSat, designer and producer of advanced digital communica- tions products, will provide Star Cruises' fleet with satellite net- working products. Circle 93 on Reader Service Card Globe Wireless Offers Global Radio Network Globe Wireless provides cost- effective messaging and data file transfer services via satellite and via the Global Radio Network of digital high frequency (HF) sta- tions to the marine industry. Ships can send and receive e- mail, fax, Telex and transfer data files by satellite or through the network using the Globe Com- munications Center. Circle 95 on Reader Service Card ©SAILOR SALES AND SERVICE AGENTS ANTILLES (NETHERLANDS) Radio-Holland Caribbean N.V. • Curacao NA. Phone: +599 94 612577 • Fax: +599 94 612723 ARGENTINA SEN S.R.L-Buenos Aires Phone: +541 361 1496 • Fan: +541 361 2606 AUSTRALIA Rubin Group Pty Limited • Artarmon NSW Phone: +61 2 94392333 • Fax: +61 2 94392278 am.I. sales • O'Connor, Weslem Australia Phone:+61 89 337 3266 Fax:+61 89 314 2929 BAHRAIN Aeradio Technical Services • Mina Salman Port Phone: +973 727790 Fax: +973 727811 BANGLADESH Graphcs Communications Lid. - Dhaka Phone: +880 2 89 2440 • Fax: +880 2 883627 BELGIUM Antwerp Marine Radio Company N.V. • Antwerp Phone: +32 3 202 0499 • Fax: +32 3 202 0493 BRAZIL 0.L Naval Ltda. • Rio de Janeiro Phone: +55 21 509 8667 • Fax: +55 21 242 7934 BULGARIA International Marine Technologies Ltd. • Rousse Phone: +359 82 228216 • Fax: +359 82 822230 IVORY COAST Nautical Afrique • Abidjan Phone: +225 250136 • Fax: +225 250137 Radio Holland (Canada) Ltd. • North Vancouver Phone:+1 604 293 2900 Fax:+1 604 293 2930 CHILE Serprotec Ltda. • Valparaiso (Deep Sea) Phone: +56 32 232780 • Fax: +56 32 212215 Simrad SA Santiago (fishing) Phone:+56 2 2351068 Fax:+56 2 235 8732 COLOMBIA Bectronica Maritima Ltda- Cartagena Phone: +575 663 3789 • Fax: +575 663 3643 CROATIA BELAM-Zastupstvo i Servis Riieka Phone: +385 51 672343 • Fax: +385 51 672179 CYPRUS A. P. Hadjipieros Ltd. - Limassol Phone: +357 5 345972 Fax: +357 5 345973 ECUADOR Industrial Anabra C. Ltda - Guayaquil Phone: +593 4 309766 • Fax: +593 4 313694 Nautical del Ecuador • Manta Phone: +593 5 628900 • Fax: +593 5 628910 EGYPT Suez Electronics Engineering & Trading Ltd. • Cairo Phone: +20 2 2742911 • Fax: +20 2 2745219 ESTONIA A/SRSTA- Tallinn Phone: +372 6 312082 • Fax: +372 6 312082 FAROE ISLANDS S.P. Radio A/S-Denmark Phone: +45 96 34 61 00 Fax: +45 96 34 61 01 (for futher information) FINLAND ASPO Systems Oy • Espoo Phone: +358 9 435 5670 • Fax: +358 9 435 56710 Navidec Oy - Helsinki Phone: +358 9 70017 780 • Fax: +358 9179 830 FRANCE Geolink - Roquevaire Phone: +33 4 42 32 99 00 • Fax: +33 4 42 32 94 95 SDM Electron [que - Sartrouville Cedex Phone: +331 39146833 • Fax: +331 39133022 GERMANY Bna GmbH • Rellingen/Hamburg Phone: +494101 30100 • Fax: +49 4101 301214 GIBRALTAR Electro Med - Marina Bay Phone: +350 77077 • Fax: +350 72051 GREECE Marac Electronics SA • Perama - Piraeus Phone: +30 1 43 14361 • Fax: +30 1 43 14234 GREENLAND S.R Radio A/S • Denmark Phone: +45 96 34 61 00 • Fax: +45 96 34 61 01 (for further information) HOLLAND Radio-Holland Marine B.V. • Rotterdam Phone: +31 10 4283344 Fax: +31 10 4281498 Sailtron B.V. • Utrecht Phone: +31 30 2840850 • Fax: +31 30 2937642 HONG KONG Radio Holland B.V. • Kwai Chung N.T. Phone: +352 24239007 • Fax: +852 24805898 Hoi Tung Communication & Navigation Co. Ltd Phone: +852 25421262 • Fax: +852 25431137 ICELAND Radiomidun Ltd. - Reykjavik Phone: +354 511 1010 • Fax: +354 511 1020 INDIA Elcome Marine Services Pvt Ltd. • New Bombay Phone: +91 22 762 91 26 • Fax: +91 22 762 91 50 FT Panorama Timur Jaya • Jakarta Phone: +62 21 475 6788 Fax: +62 21 4751688 IRAN Kaman Hormozgan Marine Engineering • Tehran Phone: +98 21 222 8020 • Fax: +98 21 222 4502 ISRAEL Alhout-Yam ltd. • Haifa Phone: +972 4 86 20804 Fax: +972 4 8627404 ITALY Compagnia Generate Telemar • Roma Phone:+39 063 221 800 Fax:+39 063 240148 Genetalmare est S.R.L • Chiavari Phone: +39 0185 323 356 • Fax: +39 0185 322 731 Kaigai Gijyutsu K.K. • Yokohama Phone: +81 45 6647318 • Fax: +81 45 6647320 KOREA Samyang Radio Co. Ltd. • Pusan Phone: +82 51 413 5000 • Fax: +82 51 413 5002 Tum-On Electronics Company • Pusan Phone: +82 51 462 3930 Fax:+82 51 462 3089 KUWAIT Elcome International • Safat Phone: +965 2406822 • Fax: +965 2406833 LATVIA/LITHUANIA Transas Marine BaHia Riga Phone: +371 7286585 • Fax: +371 7821202 LEBANON Selmar Etectronics SAR.L.- Beirut Phone: +961 1 491 489 • Fax: +961 1 495 325 MALTA Medcomms Ltd. • Gzira Phone: +356 335521 Fax: +356 310820 MOROCCO Soremar Casa - Casablanca Phone: +212 2 442802 • Fax: +212 2 305385 NAMIBIA Radio Electronic c.c. • Walvis Bay Phone: +264 64 207 483 • + 264 64 206 916 NEW ZEALAND Wrights Ltd. • Wellington Phone:+64 4 568 8975 Fax:+64 4 568 8361 NIGERIA Netarcomms Nigeria Ltd. • Lagos State Phone: +234 1 470 2959 • Fax: +234 1 545 2376 NORWAY SAILOR Norge as-Oslo Phone: +47 22 89 7875 • Fax: +47 22 89 7804 SULTANATE OF OMAN Elcome intemationl Muttrah Phone: +968 788 332 • Fax: +968 788 331 PAKISTAN International Aeradio Pakistan (Pvt) Ltd. • Karachi Phone: +92 21 5837800 • Fax: +92 21 5870331 REPUBLIC OF PANAMA Proveedora Tecnica, S A • Panama Phone: +507 227 3533 • Fax: +507 2271053 POLAND EPA Ltd. • Szczecin Phone: +48 914 874 885 • Fax: +48 914 875 014 PORTUGAL Nautel - Electronica Maritima, Lda. • Usbon Phone: +351 1 39 20 940 • Fax: +351 1 39 20 949 QATAR Eastern Technical Services Co. • Doha Phone: +974 477412 • Fax: +974 478282 RUMANIA Imsat Maritime SA Constanta • Constanta Phone: +40 41 639038 • Fax: +40 41 674356 RUSSIA Transas Marine Ltd. • St. Petersburg Phone: +7 812 325 3131 • Fax: +7 812 567 1901 Moretron Ltd Murmansk Phone: +47 6510144 • Fax: +47 8510144 SAUDI ARABIA Key Communications Development Ltd. • Dammam Phone: +966 3 8336940 Fax: +966 3 8330728 SINGAPORE Radio Holland Singapore - Singapore Phone: +65 8622218 • Fax: +85 8622430 SOUTH AFRICA Cape Maritime Electronics (Pty.) Ltd. • Cape Town Phone: +27 21 551 3204 • Fax: +27 21 551 3206 Radio Holland Group • Paarden Eiland (Cape Town) Phone: +27 21 511 0864 • Fax: +27 21 511 7577 SPAIN Nautical • San Sebastian de los Reyes (Madrid) Phone: +34 91 6549411 • Fax: +34 91 6549600 SWEDEN Vingtor Marine AB • Askim/Goteborg Phone:+46 31 668400 • Fax:+46 31 683660 TAIWAN R.O.C. Unimax Electric & Co., Ltd. Kaohsiung Phone: +886 7 815 9775 • Fax: +886 7 815 1775 THAILAND A & Marine Co., Ltd. Samutprakarn Phone: +66 2 703 5544 • Fax: +66 2 703 55 25 TUNISIA Alcatel Tunisie • Tunis Cedex Phone: +2161 717177 • Fax: +216 1 719888 TURKEY Etektro-Deniz Ltd. - Istanbul Phone: +90 216 392 77 29 • Fax: +90 216 392 8018 UNITED ARAB EMIRATES Elcome international LLC. • Dubai Phone: +971 4 342333 • Fax: +971 4 342465 UNITED KINGDOM Ships Electronic Services Ltd. • Rochester (Kent) Phone: +441634 295500 • Fax: +44 1634 295536 URUGUAY Electromaritima Uruguaya Ltda. • Montevideo Phone: +598 2 924 77 89 • Fax: +598 2 924 71 38 USA Radio-Holland USA, Inc. • Houston (Texas) Phone: +1 713 943 3325 • Fax: +1 713 943 3802 VENEZUELA Radio-Holland De Venezuela S A. • Maracaibo Phone: +5861 987811 • Fax: +5861 982596 Maritime Reporter/Engineering Ne\
