Industry Report Confirms KVH Leads the Rapidly Growing Maritime VSAT Market
"KVH's success in building the largest installed base of vessels over little more than six years from a standing start illustrates how powerful the combination of a smaller antenna, easier installation and better onboard integration can be," reports
KVH launched the mini-VSAT Broadband service in 2007 and designed it from the ground up to be a next-generation maritime satellite communications solution, utilizing advanced spread spectrum technology that enables KVH's TracPhone® V-IP antenna systems to be 85% smaller than competing maritime VSAT products, thereby reducing the installation time and cost for maritime customers. The mini-VSAT Broadband service provides fully global coverage from 24 satellite transponders; is very fast, providing Internet downloads as fast as 4 Mbps; and has low latency, making it ideal for new applications being adopted by leading ship management companies.
"It is great to see one of the most highly regarded research reports in the satellite communications industry quantify KVH's success in winning the maritime VSAT market leadership position," says Martin Kits van Heyningen, KVH chief executive officer. "We've listened carefully to our customers and tried to continually improve our service to provide them with the connectivity and content services they need to add value for their customers, enhance their efficiency, and keep their crews happy. Our strategy is clearly paying off, as 2014 was a record-breaking year for the company, during which our global mini-VSAT Broadband network delivered more than 500 terabytes of data and 25 million minutes of voice calls to our customers around the world."
To better serve maritime customers in their need to affordably bring entertainment and operations content onboard ships at sea, KVH developed the IP-MobileCastTM content delivery service. This service utilizes multicasting technology to broadcast large files to all ships at once, an efficient and cost-effective delivery method that stands in stark contrast to most competitors' current practice of unicasting files individually to each vessel and charging them for the satellite service consumed. With IP-MobileCast, customers pay a monthly subscription fee for entertainment and news content – new-release
KVH is also collaborating with leading maritime navigation and weather content providers such as Jeppesen, Transas, and AWT to deliver electronic charts and high-resolution weather data via the IP-MobileCast content delivery service. Aware of the importance of seafarer safety and professional qualifications, KVH also plans to provide multicasting delivery of maritime training content from VideotelTM, a leader in maritime training and a company that KVH acquired in
"VSAT communications seems to have moved from being a cost centre to a cost saver and a service that will actually be key to helping the commercial maritime operators recover from the disastrous economic situation that has been experienced since 2009," Mr. Bull reports. "It is all too easy to dismiss crew welfare as being something 'nice to have' and therefore a cost that can be easily dodged, but the fact is that recruitment and training cost money and increasingly these expenses are becoming significant. Many shipping companies experience annual staff turnovers in excess of 35% and, in one of our interviews with a major operator, a shipping company which had finally installed VSAT discovered that their retention rate had skyrocketed to 85%, easily justifying the additional cost of a VSAT service."
He adds: "Surpassing the 20,000 mark is considered to be a tipping point for the industry with the target now probably around 50,000 vessels over the next few years. Not only do we see vessel growth across the major segments, but bandwidth demand also continues to rise."
The comprehensive
Note to Editors: For more information about "The COMSYS Maritime VSAT Report, 4th Edition," please visit the
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This release may contain certain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements include, for example, the functionality, characteristics, quality and performance of KVH's services and technology; anticipated innovation and product development; and customer preferences, requirements and expectations. The actual results could differ materially. Factors that may cause such differences include, among others, those discussed in KVH's most recent Form 10-K filed with the
KVH, TracPhone, IP-MobileCast, and Videotel are trademarks of
CONTACT:Jill Connors Media & Communications ManagerKVH Industries, Inc. 401-851-3824 jconnors@kvh.com