Stratos Global Corporation has reached a cooperative distribution agreement with Blue Ocean Wireless (BOW) that will enable ship managers to conveniently deploy GSM service via FleetBroadband terminals. Under the terms of the agreement, Stratos will resell BOW's GSM service to existing Stratos customers, under the brand name BOW GSM Service from Stratos, in combination with other Stratos satellite-based services. Existing BOW customers using BOW's GSM service on Inmarsat F33 can now upgrade to BOW GSM Service from Stratos at attractive rates.

The agreement also enables BOW to resell FleetBroadband from Stratos with its GSM solution as part of a bundled service offering to non-Stratos customers. BOW will continue to support its existing GSM customers that use legacy Inmarsat services. BOW GSM Service from Stratos is a dedicated GSM service for crewmembers and officers of merchant ships. It is the first service —- using Inmarsat satellites — enabling seafarers to use their existing mobile phones onboard merchant ships in deep ocean waters, exactly as they would in port or on land.

Stratos also announced that Wallem Shipmanagement will offer its customers the opportunity to upgrade from Fleet to FleetBroadband with BOW GSM Service from Stratos, adding extra bandwidth and flexibility to meet both crew and commercial requirements. Sixty-five Wallem-managed vessels are now equipped with BOW's GSM service. Wallem has deployed a wide range of Stratos services, on several hundred of the vessels that it manages, since 1994.