The agreement covers Speedcasts L-band maritime contracts in which Inmarsat serves as the primary connectivity onboard, as well as the full Inmarsat Fleet Xpress portfolio from Speedcast.
Speedcast International and Inmarsat have announced that they have reached agreement on the sale of Speedcasts primary Fleet Xpress, FleetBroadband and Fleet One service contracts to Inmarsat.
The agreement marks another significant step for Speedcast as it looks to emerge from its Chapter 11 proceedings announced earlier this year, and is subject to approval by the US courts overseeing the companys financial restructuring.
Through the agreement, the Speedcast customers that are transferred to Inmarsat will be assured of continued access to Inmarsats connectivity services. The agreement covers both Speedcasts L-band maritime contracts in which Inmarsat serves as the primary connectivity onboard, as well as the full Inmarsat Fleet Xpress portfolio from Speedcast.
Speedcast will continue to deliver managed services to its commercial maritime sector clients with primary VSAT and other non-Inmarsat mobile satellite services (MSS) onboard and will maintain its Inmarsat Distribution Partner status to deliver existing MSS back-up services, with no impact to customer operations or support.
Speedcast will also continue to deliver Inmarsat Land MSS services to its enterprise customers as part of the companys land portfolio, with enterprise clients and sites unaffected by this agreement.
Inmarsat will take on the management of the transitioned Inmarsat Maritime contracts, as well as the 24/7 operations and support for customers through its network operations and customer support centres. Customers will continue to receive the service, with the deal including a fully supported handover to ensure a seamless transition.
Commenting on the sale, Ronald Spithout, President, Inmarsat Maritime, said: Our first priority is to ensure that these transitioning Speedcast customers can continue to access Inmarsats reliable global maritime connectivity services and our growing range of value-added services now and into the future. With Inmarsats ongoing, fully-funded technology roadmap, these customers will benefit from the next-generation of Ka-band and L-band satellites that we are launching over the next few years. These will provide both additional capacity and capabilities to the network. Among the seven new satellites scheduled for launch in the next few years will be the first-ever High Throughput Satellites (HTS) dedicated to the Arctic region.
Andre Eerland, Vice President, Commercial Maritime at Speedcast said: This agreement enables Speedcast to further strengthen our focus in the commercial maritime sector, delivering our leading global VSAT services, together with global L-band back-up capabilities. We pride ourselves on providing a flexible, high-quality service that meets market demands and addresses the challenges of maritime connectivity. Taking this step allows us to consolidate our core connectivity services, which are scalable across all market needs while remaining at the forefront of the maritime industry.”
