Maritime operators face May deadline as Starlink terminates unlimited data plans

With 75,000+ vessels now dependent on Starlink, the industry stands at a precarious inflection point: adapt or risk crippling costs.

It is against this backdrop that IEC Telecom has unveiled an upgraded OptiView network management system.

"Today, 40% of our customers in APAC have adopted Starlink, and we anticipate another 10% joining our LEO portfolio by the end of the year," says IEC Telecom Group chief commercial officer Nabil Ben Soussia. This mass migration to LEO technology has created new challenges, particularly around consumption management.

"Today, we have many vessels using 1 TB in a few days. It’s not sustainable," states Mr Ben Soussia. Overnight, the industry must transition from abundance to constraint. The challenge is particularly acute because maritime digitalisation has accelerated rapidly, with critical operations now dependent on high-bandwidth connections that were previously unthinkable at sea.

OptiView addresses these challenges with a redesigned interface that provides comprehensive fleet visibility through colour-coded indicators: green for online, red for offline. "It solves the problem of managing individual credit cards and vessels with different billing cycles. Everything is consolidated in one interface," Mr Ben Soussia explains. This consolidation represents a significant departure from the consumer-oriented approach of direct Starlink purchases.

The system implements crucial features for the post-unlimited era. "The alerts are configurable. Customers can receive notifications when usage reaches 50%, 70%, 90%," Mr Ben Soussia notes. For cyber security, OptiView enforces network segregation, "The corporate network is limited to predefined devices that cannot access the welfare network. Without this hard segregation, you don’t even speak about cyber security."

This security approach is backed by OptiShield, a 24/7 security operations centre that constantly monitors vessel networks. When security threats emerge, the response is decisive, "We isolate the intrusion until we have a decision made by the company," he explains. This proactive posture is critical in an environment where remote remediation can be delayed by days.

Crew welfare management demonstrates OptiView’s flexibility with authentication tied directly to crew identification systems. "Some companies prefer weekly rather than monthly allowances. They don’t want crew members to stay three weeks without welfare if they exhaust their allocation early," notes Mr Ben Soussia. Some operators even request specific time restrictions, "They don’t want this system to work during lunch time. They want crew to speak, not be on their phones."

OptiView’s multi-link capabilities address geographical coverage challenges through seamless transitions between connectivity options. "We are using whatever available connection on board... increasingly Starlink plus an L-band terminal like Iridium," explains Mr Ben Soussia. This approach is critical for vessels operating in geofenced areas such as Indian or Chinese waters, where regulatory restrictions can limit primary connections.

Support improves dramatically with the system. ’When a customer calls, we no longer have to rely on the words of an angry captain saying, "Internet is not working,"’ explains Mr Ben Soussia. ’With OptiView, we now have a complete picture of what’s happening on board.

Perhaps most significant is OptiView’s cross-vessel data pooling, "If one vessel isn’t consuming all its subscription and another is over-consuming, they balance each other," Mr Ben Soussia explains. This pooling mechanism directly counters the financial inefficiency of isolated data plans.

The timeline is unforgiving. "For the first few months after Starlink launched, people were saying they did not want limits. But step by step, you see the reality," observes Mr Ben Soussia. OptiView, he says, is not restrictive but rather an enabler, delivering "cost efficiency without compromising user experience or cyber security."

For maritime operators, the message is clear says Mr Ben Soussia: the unlimited data era ends in May, and robust management tools are now essential for operational continuity.