Maritime Telecommunications Network (MTN), a Miramar, Fla.-based provider of satellite-based communications to cruise ships and offshore oil rigs, has signed a marketing and distribution agreement with Xantic, a Dutch satellite communication provider offering Inmarsat services.

Under the agreement, financial terms of which were not disclosed, Xantic will market and distribute MTN’s VSAT services to the global maritime markets. It will also provide teleport services to MTN at Burum, the Netherlands, to add to MTN’s existing teleport infrastructure and to add C- and Ku-band services in the North Sea, Mediterranean and Indian Ocean regions.

The companies previously have cooperated in providing customized services to the maritime industry and now will be able to offer a widened range of value-added services over VSAT, such as Internet cafés, payphones, newspaper services and hot spot (WiFi) wireless Internet access.

Xantic, formed through a merger between Station 12, Telstra Global Satellite, SpecTec and KPN Broadcast, operates three earth stations – two in The Netherlands (Burum, Hilversum) and one in Australia (Perth).

–Paul Dykewicz