SEATTLE-Wireless voice, data and Internet services soon will be available on the open seas, says newly formed SeaMobile, founded by a team of veteran communications industry leaders.
The company plans to make wireless services available to cruise lines, yachts, ferries, container ships and off-shore platforms and said its technology is a sophisticated Internet Protocol software-based solution that is agnostic to the type of phones used by wireless customers when accessing the SeaMobile network at sea. This allows users onboard any vessel at sea to use voice and data services available from wireless carriers just as they would on land. In addition, SeaMobile said its solution can work with any satellite provider, including those offering services to the maritime industry.
“The timing is right to extend wireless service to one of the last significant and under-served markets on earth, the open seas,” said William Marks, president and chief executive of SeaMobile. “Our unique technology allows the maritime industry to offer familiar and affordable wireless telephone and Internet services not currently available to them. These services are craved by a new generation of people who both work and relax at sea, but who want the connectivity and freedom of mobility that has been at the core of the wireless revolution over the past two decades.”
The trio of SeaMobile founders includes Marks, former DSS Direct/Direct TV founder; William Marks Sr., cable television entrepreneur; and Jack Donohue, a McCaw Cellular Communications executive.
