Cerillion Builds World’s First “Floating” GSM Cell for BT Aeronautical

London, 5th December 2000 – Convergent customer care and billing specialist, Cerillion Technologies, has just completed successful trials on a billing system for the world's first floating GSM cell.

The system has offered cruise ship passengers the ability to use their own GSM phones whilst on board ship. Says Louis Hall, Managing Director of Cerillion Technologies: "BT Aeronautical and Maritime had an idea to offer passengers the opportunity to use their existing GSM mobile phone and number whilst on board cruise ships. This idea involved placing a base station on board a ship and linking it via satellite to the BT Manx network. This was first done on the P&O cruises' ship "Oriana".
 
Technically each user would be registered as a visiting subscriber on the BT Manx network. However the idea was to use the Cerillion Technologies CCBS system to recognise the cell site ID and bill users for the service at a special rate.
 
The system had to be implemented in a very tight time schedule. The complete project was completed in less than three months from concept to implementation."
 
The trial has proven to be successful. The "floating cell" allowed all passengers to use their own phones and to receive and make calls just as they would be able to on a land-based holiday. Service was available at all times during a cruise except when the ship was within a certain distance of land. At these times the cell site was automatically switched off to avoid interference with land based systems.
 
The trial was highly successful and BT Aeronautical and Maritime is in the process of rolling out the service to several of the main cruise lines that are based primarily in the USA.

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