Page 36: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (November 1997)

NAV/COM REVIEW (Continued from page 26)

Inmarsat has, in some measure, already moved towards a more commercial operation.

In 1995 it set up a company ICO

Global Communications, to over- see the implementation of a global hand-held satellite communica- tions system. Financed by

Inmarsat, which has a holding of more the 10 percent in the compa- ny, ICO's current main goal is to introduce Project 21, a global mobile phone system which is intended to become operational by the end of next year. The system will provide a voice, fax, data and paging service through a network of 10 operational satellites, and is expected to attract millions of

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China three years ago.

One of the proponents of the commercialization of Inmarsat is

Joseph Hersey, head of the

Spectrum Management Division of the U.S. Coast Guard. Mr. Hersey believes that restructuring is essential if the agency is to remain competitive. He also agrees that whatever happens, Inmarsat must maintain its primary role of pro- viding safety services, in particu- lar GMDSS.

Mr. Hersey gave several rea- sons for this stance, including:

GMDSS should be enforced by con- tract and the agency should have a large number of financially respon- sible members; there should be clear separation between Inmarsat and its subsidiary, ICO Global

Communications; and, there should be a distinct separation between the public corporation and intergovernmental organiza- tions.

But not everyone is as positive as Mr. Hersey about going com- mercial. The International

Chamber of Shipping (ICS) has voiced concern over possible changes to the organization with respect to the plethora of private and public consortia developing their own communications sys- tems.

In contrast to safety matters which are well covered, the ICS says it has doubts over the current methods of processing routine communications.

It is mindful of the explosion in the use of cellular mobile phones and assumes there would be no restriction on their use by crew or passengers for short range mes- saging.

Non-safety communications may become an adjunct to the gen- eral mobile radio service, with the

GMDSS system being restricted to safety and routine communica- tions concerning a vessel's opera- tion.

It is this increasing pressure from independent service providers that could relegate

Inmarsat to that only concerning the GMDSS system, and missing out on the lucrative commercial traffic that it must challenge for, if

Maritime Reporter/Engineering News