Inmarsat has opened its first office in Beijing, located at the Kong Gang Industrial Park in Shun Yi District, capping more than three decades of partnership with China.
China was one of the 88 countries that founded Inmarsat in 1979 as an international, intergovernmental organization, providing global safety and distress communications services for the maritime community.
Currently, China is one of the biggest markets for Inmarsat’s mobile satellite-based voice and broadband services, delivering double digit growth in the last five years.
Inmarsat works through partners in China, primarily Beijing Marine Communication and Navigation Co. (MCN), to provide mission critical communications services to some of China’s biggest multinational enterprises including Air China, China COSCO, China Shipping Container Lines, China National Petroleum Corporation, China Central Television, and Xinhua News Agency.
“We are proud to be extending our operations in China and look forward to supporting our partners there in bringing the humanitarian and economic benefits of mobile satellite communications to an even broader audience,” said Rupert Pearce, CEO of Inmarsat.
Inmarsat’s establishment of an office in China follows the recent opening of a satellite access station (SAS) in Beijing. The company is the only international satellite communications operator which has a SAS in China.
Owned and operated by MCN, the Beijing SAS will exclusively handle all traffic from China over the Inmarsat network, enabling Inmarsat to deliver its complete range of solutions to the Chinese market.
To cater even more effectively to the unique requirements of the Chinese market, Inmarsat’s Beijing office features a demonstration lab equipped with the terminals and solutions that Inmarsat has been successfully deploying across multiple industry sectors on a global basis.
The lab supports product demonstrations and end-user training, and promotes closer collaboration between Inmarsat partners and their customers to develop solutions in China for China.
All of the Inmarsat terminals are fully mobile – reflecting Inmarsat’s unique capabilities and allowing the Beijing office team and Inmarsat partners to provide a “fly-away” demonstration capability at customer locations anywhere in China.