+ The COMSYS Maritime VSAT Report shows $400 million in revenues in 2007
+ Crew welfare is a significant growth driver
+ COMSYS estimates that 20 per cent of almost 150,000 vessels identified are untapped potential customers for VSAT services

The Maritime VSAT market is a technically challenging and demanding environment. Nevertheless, COMSYS has seen tremendous growth in recent years with VSAT service revenues increasing at rates in excess of 50 per cent annually. This is due to many factors including end-user demand, advances in the functionality and reliability of the technology allied with reductions in cost.

The report segments the global maritime market as follows:

+ High End Commercial
+ Military / Government
+ Commercial
+ Fishing
+ Leisure
+ Inland Waterways

Until now there has been no definitive research on this high-margin business and therefore no true visibility on how demand for broadband at sea is growing. The dominance of L-band MSS providers is now tempered with VSAT services breaking out from the oil and gas, cruise and ferry sub-segments into the mainstream commercial, fishing and leisure segments.

The number of VSAT operators who now target the maritime market has grown dramatically from around ten a few years ago to over 90 today. Our research shows that stabilised maritime VSAT services (not including oil and gas rigs) reached more than $400 million in retail revenues in 2007 - about $100 million more than Inmarsat generated in the maritime sector on a wholesale basis.

A core driver of the adoption of VSAT by the commercial shipping industry has been the increasing difficulty in attracting and retaining crew. Suddenly, crew welfare - telephony and internet access - is right at the top of the agenda for many ship owners.

Encouraged by new stabilised antenna systems and the latest VSAT products, operators have seized on this opportunity and the number of service providers has almost tripled in the last five years. The report also explains why the leisure yachting market has the potential to grow at even greater rates given the right product mix.

No one involved doubts that these trends will continue due to market pressures and the application of new technologies. As VSAT penetration has reached saturation point in some segments of the marine market, the larger commercial fleets which had previously seemed unreachable, have emerged with needs that VSAT is able to better meet than other technology competitors.

COMSYS estimates that 20 per cent of almost 150,000 vessels identified are untapped potential customers for VSAT.

Yet, there are inhibitors and many challenges for VSAT service provision in the Maritime Market, including:

+ Limitations of stabilised antenna technology
+ A complex regulatory environment
+ Space segment - rising prices and lack of availability of satellite capacity
+ Alternative maritime communication services - L-Band, hybrid FSS/MSS, offshore fibre and microwave - networks

These and other aspects of the maritime VSAT market are addressed in the latest COMSYS study. COMSYS has investigated the intensely diverse worldwide market, the VSAT penetration segment by segment, end user objectives and the role the maritime VSAT platform can play in each emerging market. This definitive study offers complete and detailed coverage of the maritime VSAT market.

Building on the already-extensive knowledge base within COMSYS, we have constructed a maritime VSAT database with details of vessels and rigs in service with more than 90 operators worldwide. The report draws on this data to offer an unrivalled view of how this market has developed over the past five years and the trends and demands that are driving it forward today.

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