New Kystlink signs contract with MCP for GSM services

The ship currently sails from Langesund in Norway to Hirtshals, Denmark, but will in the near future also sail from Langesund (NO) to Strømstad, Sweden, to provide a high quality daily connection.

"To fulfill passengers' expectations New Kystlink decided to integrate on board GSM telephony this year and to offer a service that matches our needs we chose the industry's best" says Bjørn Tore Valen, Marketing Director. 

The service enables passengers and crew on board cruise-ships, ferries and other vessels around the world, to make and receive calls and SMS using their own mobile phones and phone numbers. 

For the passengers, the mobile services are transparent, readily available on their own personal mobile phone, and operate seamlessly through MCP's network in the same way as when travelling abroad. MCP tariffs all calls, and handles the revenue flow generated by the networks, through industry standard billing and accounting systems. The customers are charged by their home operator through normal invoicing routines.

About Maritime Communications Partner AS:

MCP is the global maritime cellular operator focused on providing cost effective GSM and CDMA communications solutions specially created to fulfill the requirements of the shipping industry. MCP enables cell phone coverage by installing and operating the shipborne radio networks, linking the vessels with public networks via satellite. MCP operates its mobile services via roaming agreements with cellular operators throughout the world.

Through a partnership with MCP, the ship-owners benefit by providing a service in demand to their passengers, and thus enhancing their own competitiveness. MCP works in close cooperation with customers, providing unique business models based on revenue sharing and co-investments in the vessels' operational infrastructure.

MCP is a fully recognised international cellular operator which handles all legal and regulatory challenges associated with the unique technology and service solutions that it provides to its customers.

MCP's main shareholders are Telenor ASA, Northzone Ventures IV KS and Ugland Invest Ltd.

About New Kystlink AS:

Kystlink AS, established in 1999 by mainly local entrepreneurs, was bought in the winter of 2006 by Taubåtkompaniet AS in Trondheim, who renamed the company New Kystlink AS.

Kystlink's main focus, transporting goods, has resulted in a market share of 20 percent of the total goods volume shipped over Skagerak.

In the summer of 2005 the ship Pride of Telemark was put into service, making New Kystlink an active participant in the passenger traffic between Norway and Denmark with around 125,000 passengers during 2005. In the course of 2006, Kystlink has further plans to establish a daily route between Langesund, Norway and Strømstad in Sweden. 

New Kystlink aims to be the leading low price ferry operator between Norway and the rest of Scandinavia. The principal goal is to combine low prices with flexibility, so that passengers can travel cheaply when it suits them and not only on departures which are particularly low in demand.

New Kystlink currently has 70 employees.