France Telecom Mobile Satellite Communications (FTMSC) today announced two new pricing programs for Connexion by Boeing's maritime service offering to encourage commercial shipping companies to make the switch to affordable, global high-speed communications.

"With these two new programs," said Ghani Behloul, vice president marketing & communications for FTMSC, "we believe we can offer customers what they really want—a choice in connectivity."

The first is an evaluation program for those customers who wish to experience the service before making a long-term commitment. Under this program, customers can try the Connexion by Boeing high-speed Internet service for four months.

This includes 2000 minutes of data access, 100 minutes of voice, live global television (upon introduction in the fourth quarter) and access to the Connexion by Boeing online service management tools. At the end of the evaluation, customers can simply return the equipment or take advantage of financial incentives to convert to a standard service agreement.

For those customers ready to commit a fleet to the high-speed, feature-rich Connexion by Boeing service, FTMSC offers a one-time promotional package where qualifying customers signing a standard service agreement for the service this year will receive a 30 percent discount off the regular monthly service fee through 2008.

"This is our way of saying 'thank you' to the industry for sharing our vision and confidence in Connexion by Boeing," said Sean Schwinn, director of Connexion by Boeing's maritime business.

The Connexion by Boeing maritime service provides data rates up to 256 kbps from a vessel to the satellite and data rates of up to 5 mbps from the satellite to a vessel. The high-speed data rate allows multiple, simultaneous users to access the Internet, corporate intranet and email, as well as obtain additional information for vessel management such as weather, routing and port information.

France Telecom Mobile Satellite Communications became the first Connexion by Boeing sales associate in April 2006.