Category: Communications

“One thing you need to understand about satellite communications is disaster pricing!” I can’t recall who shared his theory about the importance of price-insensitive satcoms customers, but I was certainly reminded of it last week while taking in Inmarsat’s 2011 FY investor presentation. Not only does that slide above illustrate how “events” like tsunamis and revolutions can significantly accelerate sat phone sales, but you can also hear a CFO refer to “a continuing headwind in Afghanistan” that apparently means a winding down of western involvement and the related heavy use of satellite services. But the main thing I learned from the presentation is why Inmarsat may drastically raise the minimum service costs of FleetBroadband services even though it views the recreational users who will likely howl about it as an important growth element in its “adressable market”…

I don’t know why Icom didn’t hold a press conference in Miami because the company certainly has significant new products to brag about. Maybe it’s because neither the GPS/DSC/VHF handheld M92D above nor the fixed M424 sibling in its new family of radios is currently FCC certified, and therefore they aren’t yet for sale or even priced. But quick FCC approvals seem possible and if priced right I’ll guess that “The New Look of Icom” — that’s the theme of the ad campaign — will draw customers…

It’s not slated to go on sale until February, assuming FCC approval, but it’s very likely that the Explorer GX1700, press release here, will be the first fixed VHF radio with a GPS built in....

I’ve been meaning to write about the Icom M24 handheld VHF for some time. While I haven’t actually tested this model myself, just holding one at a boat show was a revelation about how light and hand-friendly a full-featured portable marine radio can be these days. Apparently Standard Horizon was also impressed, because today they announced an HX300 model that seems very similar…