Stratos has announced the commercial availability of its Inmarsat
FleetBroadband Flat Fee service plans, known as FBB Flat Fee, offering
10 GB and 15 GB per-vessel data connectivity options over FleetBroadband
500 for a flat monthly price.
The prices for these services have not been disclosed, though Stratos
has said that if a vessel exceeds the plan’s monthly data allocation the
price will not increase, but data speed will be reduced.
The plans also include what Stratos calls "highly competitive rates" for voice calls.
Contract periods range from two to four years, and Stratos claims that
the four-year contract period represents “the most competitive
FleetBroadband commercial offering on the market today.”
Stratos also offers the option of a three-month, paid trial period,
during which customers can upgrade or downgrade their FBB Flat Fee data
allocation or contract duration.
The plans have already been deployed by Stratos for a number of its
existing customers, as well as by Navarino Telecom, for ship-management
companies Grieg Shipping Group, OSM Ship Management and Ugland Marine
Services, among others.
FBB Flat Fee also represents one of Stratos' programmes that will
provide shipping companies with a pathway to Inmarsat’s Global Xpress
Ka-band service.
Customers contracting for FBB Flat Fee plans from Stratos can upgrade to
Global Xpress without penalty when that service is commercially
available in 2013.
“Many of the world’s leading shipping companies are demanding higher
volumes of data – with the dependability of L-band satellite
communications – to support critical applications,” said Joe Apa,
Stratos vice president, global maritime.
“They also want to choose from a range of price plans that meet their
specific requirements. We are meeting those demands with simple,
affordable plans such as FBB Flat Fee, in addition to our managed global
broadband service XpressLink.”
“Our wide range of broadband solutions proves that we are ideally suited
to help expand our customers’ communications capabilities as we prepare
for the availability of Inmarsat’s Global Xpress services.”
The digitalship