Navitas Telecom - Maritime Mobile Telecommunications Provider

Navitas Telecom provides superior mobile telephone solutions in remote locations, both at sea and on land.

Our GSM service represents the most flexible, cost-effective and technologically advanced solution for the provision of cellular coverage in remote locations. Our feature-rich system can be adapted to suit a wide variety of scenarios including cellular coverage on cruise lines, ferries, merchant ships, yachts, on offshore gas and oil platforms, as well as on land.

The core strengths of Navitas Telecom are innovation and flexibility. We are at the forefront of the telecommunications industry, being the first private operator to deploy the Zynetix soft-switch based maritime GSM system on cruise liners. With our flexible and scalable network no requirement for GSM services is beyond our scope; we can tailor our solutions to meet your needs.

Crew and passenger maritime GSM services

With GSM service now available in all major populated areas of the world, people have come to expect a convenient and reliable service wherever they go. Our maritime GSM solutions extend the world of mobile communications to a wide variety of vessels, from private yachts to cruise liners and merchant ships.

With our maritime GSM service, crew and passengers can use their own mobile phones and PDAs at sea just as they do on land. Lives can be organised, communication between businesses can continue, and friends and families can stay in touch when needed.

Advantages for ship operators of our maritime GSM services include:

• Enhanced passenger satisfaction
• Valuable new revenue opportunity
• No financial investment
• No impact on existing communications infrastructure
• Rapid installation by our experts whilst the vessel is at sea or in port
• Competitive edge over rival cruise and ferry lines
• Secure online facility to monitor usage and revenues

Bespoke pre-paid maritime mobile service

Navitas Freedom is a pioneering fully featured pre-paid mobile service for use on ferries, cruise liners and merchant ships. Uniquely, it enables users to both make and receive calls and text messages, offering passengers and crew a convenient and cost-effective means of communication.

There is no contract to sign, subscription charges to pay or big bill when the customer gets home. It is a pay-as-you-go service where spend relates directly to the calls made or the text messages sent.

The service operates as an overlay on the Navitas maritime GSM mobile network. With this pre-paid service, passengers and crew purchase a Navitas Freedom SIM connection pack. Once they insert the SIM card into their phone, they will receive a text message which notifies them of their telephone number. The account then needs to be credited using top-up scratch cards purchased on board.

Users can make and receive both calls and text messages to / from anywhere in the world. Furthermore, calls to other people on the same vessel are charged at a much lower rate than off-vessel calls.

Bulk maritime text message service

Additional features of our maritime mobile services include the ability for the operator to send bulk text messages, free of charge, to all crew or passengers on board. This could be used to notify passengers about disembarkation procedures, upcoming shows or promotions on board.

Maritime GSM service advantages

Features and advantages of Navitas' maritime GSM services include:

• IP based architecture
• Uses existing network cabling on the ship
• Local switching capabilityConserves satellite bandwidth
• IP from base transceiver stations (BTS) to core network switch
• Compatible with next generation networks (NGN)
• Built-in short message service centre (SMSC); crew can broadcast text messages to selected handsets onboard
• Local breakout capability; the system can interface with onboard PABX systems
• Extensive remote diagnostic capability

Navitas Telecom is at the forefront of telecommunications technology. Our systems employ the latest miniaturised radio base stations and IP based softswitch technology, resulting in rapid installation, no downtime and minimum impact on existing communications infrastructure.

Several nanoBTS units are installed in strategic locations on each vessel and connected together by the ship's Ethernet cabling. A miniature GSM controller is also installed to allow calls to be switched locally and users on the same vessel to communicate with each other without the voice traffic being backhauled over the satellite link. This also conserves satellite bandwidth.

The ship-borne network is connected back to shore by means of the ship’s existing VSAT communications infrastructure. The VSAT enables two-way IP communication from the vessel to a land-based earth station, which must be located in the same satellite footprint as the vessels.