Maritime Communications Services Pte Ltd ('MCS') has been officially appointed an Accounting Authority (AA) with effect from September 2001.

About Accounting Authority (AA)

An Accounting Authority (AA) is a clearing house where the bills from the different Land Earth Stations (LESs) are processed and combined into one easy-to-read bill for the User (Ship/Land Mobile Earth Stations). An AA acts as an intermediary between the customer and the various LESs that provide communication services.

An AA must be appointed if your ship is outside fixed or cellular coverage, i.e. when the ship is not able to call through by these means, or when the quality or level of service of these means is undesirable.

An AA is required to take care of the bills of a ship or land mobile, as it moves from one location to another.

After a Mobile Earth Station (MES) makes a call through an LES, the LES Operator (LESO) identifies the Accounting Authority Identification Code (AAIC) for that MES, and subsequently sends the charge for the call to the AA. If an MES incurs call charges with several LESOs, each LESO passes details of its charges to the AA. The AA consolidates all the charges into a single bill which it then submits to the MES customer for settlement.

An MES will only be commissioned if a valid AAIC is entered into the commissioning form.

Arrangements will be made by an AA with the relevant Point of Service Activation (PSA) to reflect their AAIC as that for their ship or land mobile. The PSA concerned will commission your ship or land mobile and inform Inmarsat London accordingly. Inmarsat London will then broadcast the updated information to all the service providers (i.e. Land Earth Stations) in the world, so that the bills for the mobile stations will be correctly dispatched and settled.

DEFINITIONS:

LESO – Land Earth Station Operator - service provider of Inmarsat.

MES – Mobile Earth Station - equipment used for Inmarsat Service (can be either ship or land mobile equipment).

PSA – Point of Service Activation - the centre which processes applications for MES service activation, assigns Inmarsat Mobile Numbers (IMNs) and transmits customer service activation information to Customer Activation Group (CAG) and appropriate national bodies.