The assembly of the International Mobile Satellite Organization announced that structural changes must be made if the organization is to remain commercially successful in the long run.
The Inmarsat Assembly, which meets once every two years, recently outlined items that should be examined by the Inmarsat Council, which will meet at the end of the month and start building a restructuring plan.
Open, broad and voluntary investment and participation should be considered, including multiple investors per country. At this time, one investor is allowed per member country.
Seventy-nine countries are members of the assembly. The council is comprised of the 18 largest investors plus representatives from the four designated geographic areas of Argentina, China, Indonesia and Liberia.
The benefits of a corporate structure, including financial and investment flexibility, also should be examined, the assembly concluded. Such flexibility -also called de-linking- will reconsider the current structure of a signatory’s investment being directly linked to use of the system. The council will also consider allowing participation by external, non-signatory investors such as manufacturers or banks and look into the limited liability of investors, the organization said.
Discussion of restructuring also should consider a maximum limit on the shareholding and voting power of any one investor and a low minimum investment requirement in order to ensure broad ownership and the participation of small investors.
The assembly should examine replacing the council with a fiduciary board, elected by a general meeting of investors, whose members act in the interest of Inmarsat. Currently, council members can make decisions based on what is best for Inmarsat or the signatory they represent, Inmarsat said.
“A change like this would require their decisions to solely benefit Inmarsat,” said organization spokeswoman Elizabeth Hess.
A mechanism for eliminating existing privileges and tax immunities awarded Inmarsat also should be examined. This would put Inmarsat into the same competitive playing field as other businesses offering commercial service. The council should also consider an effective national regulation of commercial operations.
Inmarsat’s original guiding principals will not change. The organization will continue to provide global maritime distress and safety service, and support the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System. The assembly also agreed the restructured Inmarsat would not discriminate on the basis of nationality and would use the Inmarsat system solely for peaceful purposes. Inmarsat would be in all areas where there is a need for such communications and fair competition would be supported, the assembly said.
The organization’s intergovernmental character should be preserved, Inmarsat noted. An extraordinary session of the assembly may be scheduled for late this year or early 1997.
