Smart, Inmarsat launch expanded satellite phone service for seafarers

Filipino seafarers can now make calls to the Philippines even while they are out at sea, thanks to the expansion of Smart Link’s prepaid satellite communications service that now reaches out to the whole of Asia, Middle East, Africa and parts of Russia and Australia.

Smart has partnered with Inmarsat, a global mobile satellite communications provider, to offer a wider geographic coverage for Smart Link. The partnership involves a $5-million investment by Smart to set up a gateway facility and ground infrastructure in Subic, Zambales. This allows the company to extend the coverage area for the Smart Link prepaid wireless satellite phone service to India, the Indian Ocean, the Middle East, Africa, and the Pacific Ocean. Voice call services will be carried on the Inmarsat-4 F1 satellite, which can also support data connectivity.

Smart will operate the gateway as well as distribute the terminals for Inmarsat.

The expanded coverage area complements the existing coverage provided by the Garuda 1 network of Asia Cellular Satellite (ACeS), which covers 11 million square miles of Asia, from Pakistan in the west to Japan in the east and Indonesia and Papua New Guinea in the south.

“We’ve been setting our sights overseas by following our overseas foreign workers. Today marks our efforts to have a genuine global reach by investing in a satellite service that gives our countrymen who work at sea 75 percent of the time a cost-effective satellite phone which is their only means of communications while at sea,” says Smart president and CEO Napoleon Nazareno.

Estimates put the total number of seafarers in the world at 1.2 million, 40 percent of whom are said to be Filipinos and 60,000 of them are active subscribers of Smart Link, which was offered to seafarers in 2004.

“Not all Filipino seafarers are (working) in our coverage area so we only have 60,000 subscribers so far,” says Tina Mariano, head of Smart’s Public Access Group. “The expanded coverage, however, in collaboration with Inmarsat, is twice the size of our previous coverage so we are also looking at doubling our number of subscribers.”

By 2009, Nazareno says they will “further expand the coverage for the Smart Link prepaid service to be virtually global by utilizing the full Inmarsat-4 constellation” which, he adds, is one of the world’s most extensive and sophisticated global satellite networks.

Perry Melton, Inmarsat vice president for sales and marketing, says his company has launched 10 geostationary satellites in the last 15 years, the most recent of which is the Inmarsat-4 F1.

He welcomes the partnership with Smart as it gives them a satellite phone that was lacking in their portfolio. Melton also mentions that while a global company like Inmarsat doesn’t go into exclusive contracts, Smart, however, is their partner in this market. “We benefit from their market and the operation of gateway, among others,” he adds.

Call rates

Smart’s latest effort to offer a broad range of communications services to Filipino seafarers will allow them to get in touch with their families and loved ones even when they are out at sea for as low as P15 to P40 a minute.

Smart Link call charges vary in three zones: Zone A (economy) covers Southeast and Northeast Asia, Zone B (maritime) covers the South Asian and East African maritime region; and Zone C (premium) covers mostly Middle East and Africa.

Zone A is provided by the ACeS Garuda Satellite, while Zones B and C are serviced by Inmarsat F1 I-4. The call rate per minute at Zone A is P15, Zone B is P30, while Zone C is P40. Calls to other countries other than the Philippines are also charged based on the band where the called country belongs.

“Our seafarers before used expensive satellite service until Smart Link came along. According to the manning agencies, at any given time there are 350,000 Filipinos at sea, and on the average they consume $40 a month on voice calls,” says Mariano.

To access Smart Link, users would need a Smart Link SIM card preloaded with at least P25. The card is inserted into a Smart Link satellite phone terminal when making a call or when a seafarer is expecting a call. The terminal can be a property of the ship or a seafarer who could buy it at a discounted rate of P14,900 from Smart. The terminal’s original price is P26,600.

Smart Link top-up cards and SIM cards are available at Smart’s authorized distributors in the country. Mariano says they also tapped international distributors to make sure there are retailers of cards at every port abroad.

Meanwhile, Smart executives say that ship owners have commended Smart for offering Smart Link to seafarers as it is an instrument that increases their productivity levels now that they can call their loved ones and friends anytime while at sea.

Nazareno adds that another offshoot benefit is higher retention of seafarers who, with their satellite phones, now have less reason to be homesick that sometimes drive them to quit their jobs.

Filipino seafarers comprise more than 90 percent of Smart Link’s subscribers. The other users include ship and yacht owners, residential users and businesses, the government, military, mining and exploration firms, and public calling office operators.