Inmarsat Satellite Airtime Billing System

1. Inmarsat C and Fleet

Inmarsat C is currently the only certified and available GMDSS (Global Maritime Distress and Safety System) service. It is compulsory to have an Inmarsat C unit on any vessel above a certain size. It is extremely reliable and has been the backbone of safety at sea for many years. As well as being used on ships, this service is also used within aircraft.

It can be used for reporting including position reporting, messaging and email. It does not cover voice.

Inmarsat C will continue well into the 2020s. Its replacement is currently under discussion. However, it is years away from a launch. To prolong its life, Inmarsat are migrating the Inmarsat C service to the BGAN family of satellites. From this year, Iridium can also offer GMDSS which means for the first time, there will be a choice of providers.

“Fleet” offers low-to-moderate IP data comms (9.6Kbps to 128Kbps), as well as voice and SMS. It is being replaced by the newer BGAN family and by GX. The Fleet service will cease on 1st December 2020.

2. BGAN Family

These are a range of land- or maritime- or aviation-optimised services, all operating from the same I-4 set of satellites. These include the following:

• BGAN, FB and SB – these are all essentially using the same satellite services offering voice, Background IP, Streaming IP, ISDN/Fax, SMS, with data speeds up to 800Kbps.
• BGAN – aimed at the land-based market.
• FleetBroadband (FB) – aimed at the maritime market.
• SwiftBroadband (SB) – aimed at the aviation market.
• M2M Communications – a number of services offer machine-to-machine low-speed data communications. These are ideally suited for high-frequency, low-latency data reporting. Also short burst data transmissions of 10 or 25 bytes.
• IsatPhone 2 – offers a global voice service, SMS and low-speed data (up to 20Kbps).

3. Global Xpress

This product is Inmarsat’s newest constellation. The fifth satellite (GX5) was launched in late November 2019 and it has a significantly improved the available and maximum data transmission rates. GX offers up to 50Mbps down and 5Mbps up for data. For reliable service offerings, the GX terminals are often combined with a BGAN (land) or FBB (maritime) terminal as this provides resilience and redundancy. The combined system automatically switches between the services to optimise the performance and gives lower rain-fade. This blended offering is known as Fleet Xpress or Land Xpress.

Inmarsat have ambitious plans to enhance and upgrade the GX network over the next five years with multiple additional satellites in build and planned for launch. The GX10A/B pair (scheduled 2022) will give GX full polar Arctic coverage for the first time. This pair will be the first Inmarsat satellites not to be in a GEO orbit.

Recent Developments

Inmarsat is currently embarking on a major overhaul of its satellite constellation. One new Global Xpress Satellite (GX5), part of a new range of Very High Throughput Satellites (V-HTS), was launched into geostationary orbit from the Guiana Space Centre in November 2019. This brings the total GX network to five satellites.

The new satellite brings more capacity than the entire first generation Inmarsat GX fleet, and will significantly increase the operator’s global network capacity and mobile broadband provision over the coming years.

Using SATbill With Inmarsat

If you use Inmarsat as one of your satellite operators, the SATbill satellite airtime billing system can help you produce fast and accurate customer invoices and ensure you get paid on time.

SATbill is a customisable billing platform used by service providers of all main satellite operators. It is compatible with a wide range of data services and file formats, and handles automated invoices by airtime agreement, installation, customer, or per terminal/SIM.

To find out more about how SATbill can help streamline your billing process and improve your cash flow, please call +44 (0) 1260 281700 today.

3.25

MILLION

Invoices generated

42

Providers covered

56,000

Terminals/SIMs handled

£

325

MILLION

Revenue generated for customers

14

Different countries

Client Testimonials

From set up to implementation Symbiosys always provided a very prompt response times and resolution to any query. Working with a Company that understands our Airtime business proved very useful and saved a lot of time in set up meaning we were able to go from start to first invoice in three months.
SATbill has been an incredibly useful tool for our Airtime business allowing us better visibility, control and reducing the complete airtime process.

Airtime Manager

SIRM UK Ltd

We have improved our productivity in managing the billing processes for our airtime business division with the use of SATbill from Symbiosys Business Solutions. We are now able to ensure timely and accurate billing for our customers which in turn improves customer satisfaction. The solution has some standard and yet very useful reports for cost and sales analysis. More importantly, Symbiosys Business Solutions are very flexible and this makes it easier to do business with them and their support team are very responsive to any support we need.

Ooi Chee Kong
Sales Operations Manager

Jason Electronics Pte Ltd

We have a large number of customers who purchase satellite traffic from our company, and for years the management of billing was one of the most complex processes in our organisation. The launch of the SATbill project has enabled us to make this process simpler and more efficient and to be able to create custom subscription profiles for our customers.

Gaetano Volpe

Airtime Manager

SIRM Italia S.R.L

SATbill has been the best software investment our Satcom division has made in years; it saves time and money and provides our customers with a professional invoice and specification.

Airtime Manager

Alphatron Marine

Dounia Gnaou

Financial Manager

Soremar Group

Symbiosys Business Solutions commitment to improving our business processes and supporting our systems, combined with their high level of customer support, has dramatically enhanced our cash flow and enabled us to offer improved services to our customers.

Managing Director

7E Communications Limited

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Inmarsat

Inmarsat

1. Inmarsat C and Fleet

2. BGAN Family

3. Global Xpress

4. European Aviation Network

Network Coverage

Recent Developments

Using SATbill With Inmarsat

3.25

42

56,000

£

325

14

Download Our FREE Ultimate Guide to Satellite Airtime Billing

Client Testimonials

Latest From the Blog

How Do Iridium Service Providers Bill Their Customers For Certus Services?

How To Integrate Your Back-Office, CRM & ERP Systems With Your Satellite Airtime Billing System To Improve Efficiency & Productivity

Professional Services

Satcom Operators

Resources

About SATbill