communications systems
WMS’ vice president, commented, “The start of our relationship with Star Cruises is especially exciting as it represents a significant expansion into the Asia Pacific region. WMS has roaming agreements with hundreds of telecommunications carriers, including China Mobile.” WMS is seeing significant growth in mobile
data traffic due to the proliferation of smartphones. “Correspondingly, voice, and to a certain degree, text message (SMS)
traffic is declining due to
pricing concerns and substitution by GPRS [general packet radio service] and data over historical methods of communications,” said Mr McKenna. “As shipowners upgrade their satellite links, data tends to fill up any increases in bandwidth. We therefore predict continuing growth in mobile data traffic and revenues.”
He continued, “Owners sometimes ask for
services which are technically feasible but cannot be provided for legal or regulatory reasons, such as SMS broadcasting or intra-ship calling at reduced rates.” One regulation that has benefited WMS is the reduction of the territorial waters boundary in Europe from 12nm to 2nm, which came into force in March 2011. He added, “This resulted in increased mobile usage at sea, as our networks can now stay on for longer as a ship enters or leaves port.” Mr McKenna reported that cost is an issue, as most home networks still charge high retail rates for maritime roaming. “Continuing regulatory pressure on European mobile carriers to reduce terrestrial
roaming rates has yet to spill over into the maritime arena, but this may happen in the coming year or two,” he said. “Crew are more price sensitive but tend to be less demanding in terms of service. “However, global economic conditions may have a negative impact on passenger numbers, especially in the cruise sector. At the same time, consumer expectations of the onboard mobile experience are constantly increasing. Maritime mobile operators will need to invest in new technologies to satisfy these expectations and maintain or increase revenues in the face of these economic pressures.” Maritime Communications Partner (MCP) is one maritime mobile operator which is developing its offering. It is in the process of rolling out 3G services and plans to trial these early in the third quarter of this year. Pilot projects will run on selected ships and the service is due to be commercially launched around the end of the third quarter. “3G is a big upgrade to make our network future-proof,” said Egon Vik, MCP’s market communications manager. Last year the firm started to upgrade its customers’ fleets with enhanced data rates for GSM evolution (EDGE) technology. “We began with the most technologically capable ships, to enable more efficient data handling,” said Mr Vik. “Our system has to follow suit with what is happening on land.” In 2011 MCP saw more than a 100 per cent
increase in its data traffic, which it attributes to social networking website usage. “Bandwidth is an issue stopping us from creating an experience identical to land-based communication but we are aiming to make the experience closer to this,” said Mr Vik.
Corsica Ferries’ Mega Express Three will feature an MCP mobile phone network
46 I Passenger Ship Technology I Spring 2012
In November, MCP added the DFDS ferry, Regina Seaways, to its list of supplied vessels. This announcement followed the news that the communications firm would be providing services to Corsica Ferries’ fleet. “This is an important step for us to become more present in the Mediterranean market,” said Mr Vik. “The key difference between this and previous orders is that this is more of a turnkey contract. As well as supplying mobile telephony, we are also providing Internet access through a very small aperture terminal (VSAT) satellite connection, in partnership with Società Italiana Radio Marittima. This is a new approach for us; we are exploring different ways of expanding the business.” PST
www.passengership.info
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