Horizon Achieves Significant Growth

London, UK, 24 July 2012 - One Horizon Group Plc, leader in optimising communications over the internet, is pleased to announce that its wholly owned subsidiary SatCom Global has achieved significant growth milestones for Horizon in the first half of 2012.

These milestones include processing over 67,000 pre-paid voice minutes and transferring 4GB of data (saving 14GB through optimisation) in June, saving maritime users more than 75% over Inmarsat terminals. Horizon has also achieved month over month voice growth of 68-92% in Q2 2012.

“Horizon’s substantial growth validates it has gained visibility with crew in the maritime industry and that they recognize the value that Horizon offers. Through the affordability that Horizon’s optimisation provides crew members have also been able to increase their time spent online by 59%,” said Sandy Johnson, COO, SatCom Global.

The ability for crew in the maritime industry to stay in touch with family and friends with cost effective communications is crucial for high morale, as they are isolated for long periods of time.

Horizon has enabled crew to save significantly on voice and data services through the efficient use of bandwidth over mobile and fixed satellite networks. Horizon’s optimisation technology significantly reduces crew communications costs by consuming as much as 80% less data than other VoIP services and saving upwards of 20,000 bytes per website viewed.
 
“We are proud to offer innovative technology that connects crew and their family and friends around the world at much lower cost. It’s enormously gratifying to play a role in improving working conditions and quality of life for the crew working at sea,” said Sandy Johnson, COO, SatCom Global.

By using Horizon, crew members are able to track their call and surf expenditures. They can also make calls without the need to wait in a queue as Horizon allows up to eight simultaneous calls over an IP link.  

Ship owners now have the ability to offer affordable voice and data services to their crew without the fear of expenses spiraling out of control, as they look to recruit and retain staff.

Horizon is the most bandwidth-efficient VoIP platform. Based on the company’s SmartPacket™ technology, it enables VoIP from only 2kbps compared to around 8kpbs from other VoIP services. In addition to VoIP, Horizon extends to a range of optimised data applications including compressed email, accelerated web browsing and instant messaging.