Page 131: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (June 1993)

IDB's Klein Touts Cost Effectiveness,

Improved Service As Benefits Of IDB/

AMSC Agreement

Projected AMSC Service Map Land Mobile/Maritime

As shipowners increasingly eye their bottom lines, IDB Mobile Com- munications, Inc. president Jon

Klein heralds his company and its recent moves as a significant step in helping to improve shipboard com- munications quality while simulta- neously driving down prices.

IDB Mobile, as reported in the

May 1993 issue of Maritime Re- porter, signed a Value Added Ser- vice Provider agreement with Ameri- can Mobile Satellite Corp. (AMSC), whereby IDB will provide up to 10 million minutes of enhanced voice and data communications services to maritime markets utilizing

AMSC's mobile satellite service.

According to Mr. Klein, the bottom- line meaning of the agreement is that users will have more flexibility, as he says the voice-oriented AMSC can be seen as an alternative to

Inmarsat. While AMSC has limited range (see chart of AMSC Projected

Service Map), "the AMSC footprint is extensive and within it users can enjoy dramatically lower costs of equipment and services," Mr. Klein added. "If you look at the AMSC footprint, you realize that a lot of ships never leave that area."

To illustrate his point, Mr. Klein said that maritime customers tran- siting the AMSC service area will be able to make calls for between $2 and $3.50 per minute, compared to the higher prices currently avail- able through other services.

Per call cost is not the only area in which customers can save. Accord- ing to Mr. Klein, the cost of an

Inmarsat M terminal is $24,000, where the cost for an AMSC termi- nal will range between $3,000 and $4,000. "I'm trying to make sure that our customers and your read- ers know that there is going to be another service," said Mr. Klein.

AMSC service is scheduled to begin in the second half of 1994.

Neither Inmarsat M nor the

AMSC service, both voice-oriented services, are designed to replace

Inmarsat A, but rather to supple- ment it. Mr. Klein envisions AMSC service as a complimentary system to larger vessels, so they can enjoy less expensive voice communications in the AMSC service zone. IDB also anticipates offering automatic switching so that ships using voice communication in the AMSC foot- print are automatically switched to the less expensive service.

But the big market potential per- haps lies in the smaller vessels.

According to Mr. Klein, there are more than 50,000 35-foot plus fish- ing boats and more than 30,000 30- foot plus yachts which are potential users of the service. "The market for yachts and fishing vessels is incredible...AMSC will expand the base of mobile maritime communi- cation tremendously," said Mr.

Klein. As for signal quality, Mr.

Klein admits there is little differ- ence between the AMSC and

Inmarsat M service (which IDB also markets). Where the difference lies is in the actual satellite: The im- mense powerful MSAT satellite to be used for the AMSC service allows the size of the terminals and the antenna ("the size of a serving plate" said Mr. Klein) to be much more compact, thus more accessible to a variety of users. IDB Mobile mar- kets maritime and land mobile sat- ellite communications services to users including commercial shipping fleets, fishing vessels, pleasure cruises, oil rigs and tankers and re- mote land operations. For more in- formation on IDB Mobile,

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