Maritime GSM
Private Mobile Networks (PMN) provide a Maritime GSM Solution that is easy to install, uses the passengers' and crews' existing mobile phones and can provide a revenue opportunity for the vessel operator.
Implementation Overview
- Calls between crew or passengers while on board are managed locally, without additional authorisation being needed.
- Calls to phones on shore undergo a USSD* through a shore based pre-paid platform. If the mobile phone SIM has credit, then the call is allowed. Time restrictions are implemented on low credit.
- For efficiency of use of satellite bandwidth, all calls are compressed and headers stripped from them when being passed over the link to shore.
- Once on shore, the call is received by the satellite station, passed to a hub connected to a pre-paid platform with the ability to direct calls over least cost routes in the network.
- Both PSTN and mobile network access can be provided.
* Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) is a technology unique to GSM. It is a capability built into the GSM standard for support of transmitting information over the signalling channels of the GSM network. USSD provides session-based communication. Unstructured Supplementary Services Data (USSD) works on all existing GSM mobile phones.
