Telecom Lead Asia: KVH Industries has opened its office in Tokyo.
KVH Industries’ Japanese partners include SKY Perfect JSAT, which provides the mini-VSAT Broadband service under the OceanBB brand name, as well as Furuno Electric, and Japan Radio, which provide and install KVH TracPhone communications systems.
Yoshito Yamane will be the country manager and representative director for KVH Industries Japan.
“We are extremely excited about opening our KVH Japan office, which represents a significant step forward in enabling further market penetration for our services and products in Japan,” said Brent C. Bruun, senior vice president of Global Sales and Business Development at KVH Industries.
“We are particularly pleased to have Mr. Yoshito Yamane as our Japanese country manager. He has vast experience in the maritime industry and is extremely knowledgeable about KVH products, services, and technology,” Bruun added.
Since 2009, KVH Industries has provided mini-VSAT Broadband service coverage in Asia Pacific waters and in the Indian Ocean through a satellite-capacity leasing arrangement with SKY Perfect JSAT.
In 2011, MOL LNG Transport, a subsidiary of Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, a leading shipping company, has signed a contract to add KVH’s TracPhone V7 satellite communications systems to selected LNG tankers. The systems use KVH’s global mini-VSAT Broadband service.
In 2012, Tokyo-based Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK Line), the largest shipping company in Japan, chose KVH’s TracPhone V7 satellite communications systems and mini-VSAT Broadband service for selected containerships. NYK’s fleets of more than 100 will be equipped with broadband service to support NYK’s IBIS (Innovative Bunker and Idle-time Saving) project with real-time communications between ships and staff on shore.
Japan ranks second in the world in the amount of deadweight tonnage it controls as a percentage of the world’s fleet, according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development’s Review of Maritime Transport 2011.
In addition, Tokyo is one of the world’s busiest ports for container traffic. KVH Industries has offices in other centers of the global commercial maritime industry, including Singapore, Denmark, and Norway.
