Inmarsat, the world leader in global, mobile satellite communications, is giving free connectivity to maritime crews around the globe that use its Fleet Hotspot service. Given the critical role connectivity plays in crew welfare, Inmarsat will deliver 250MB of free data to active Fleet Hotspot accounts on 24 December 2021.The seasonal gift will be automatically topped up to active crew accounts.

The free 250MB is available for a variety of connectivity uses and is equivalent to as much as:

• 5 hours of free calling to friends or family across a range of applications like WhatsApp, Facebook and others.
• 4 hours of social media use or internet browsing.
• 100 standard emails.
• 1 hour of music streaming.
• 1.5 hours of podcast streaming.

Ben Palmer, President Inmarsat Maritime, said: “Inmarsat is pleased to make this gift as a special thank you to seafarers for the work they do to keep the global economy running day in day out, year-round – often in difficult conditions. With crew travel restrictions in place once again due to the pandemic, staying in touch is vital, especially this time of year. Fleet Hotspot changes the way those at sea and their families back home stay in touch.

“Fleet Hotspot is very popular among seafarers, especially after recent upgrades. It can now be accessed on any vessel using Fleet Xpress, from multiple devices and from both land and sea. Seafarers now benefit from full control when managing their connectivity, independent of their current ship contract. Based on feedback from seafarers, the accounts can be topped up before joining the vessel. Their families can also add credits on their behalf.”

In addition to the Fleet Hotspot promo, Inmarsat is also offering 33% extra talk-time on FleetBroadbandand Fleet Xpress ChatCards from 24 December 2021, 00:00 UTC until 1 January 2022, 23:59 UTC.

The Fleet Hotspot upgrade and promotion provide an example of Inmarsat’s commitment to flexible global mobile communications services for the digital era. The company recently unveiled ORCHESTRA – the first of its kind multi-dimensional network, integrating Inmarsat’s ELERA (L-band) and Global Xpress (Ka-band) networks with terrestrial 5G and low earth orbit (LEO) capacity to meet accelerating bandwidth requirements and eliminate congestion at hot spots, including busy ports and shipping lanes.