“We appreciate there are significant challenges being faced by the maritime industry, not least the direct impact on the mental wellbeing of seafarers as they face longer spells at sea and the inability to travel home.” Ian Robinson, CEO at Satcom Global

Satcom Global has announced a crew calling initiative which is providing free telephone vouchers to each of its Satcom Global Aura VSAT customers, as part of efforts to support seafarer welfare during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The satellite communications provider and operator of the Aura network is supplying customers with a free-of-charge 30-minute voucher for each crew member stationed on-board a vessel using the Aura service, to help keep lines of communication open between vessel and shore.

Ian Robinson, CEO of Satcom Global commented:

“On speaking to a number of ship owners and managers since the Coronavirus outbreak began, we appreciate there are significant challenges being faced by the maritime industry, not least the direct impact on the mental wellbeing of seafarers as they face longer spells at sea and the inability to travel home. We hope this gesture will help more crew to connect with family and friends and bring some relief during this difficult time.”

Aura crew voice services are supported by IPSignature 4, Satcom Global’s proprietary communications management solution, which enables the generation of easy to use virtual voice pins for crew to use at their leisure. With the implementation of the free voucher initiative underway, Satcom Global hopes to reach upwards of 20,000 seafarers with the scheme.

Delivering cost effective maritime communications services across multiple satellite networks, Satcom Global operates a dedicated in-house development team who have delivered a range value-added crew focused communication systems and satellite optimized tools for over 20 years.

Satcom Global launched their Aura Ku-band VSAT service in 2016, to support the growing needs of the maritime community for bandwidth capable of delivering both improved connectivity for crew, whilst ensuring the wide-ranging data demands for vessel operations were also amply met. With its organically growing network and guaranteed CIR (Committed Information Rate) across all service packages, Aura has fast become a VSAT service of choice for shipping fleets across the globe.