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    NEXCOM to end its Afloat Personal Telecommunications Service

    NEXCOM to end its Afloat Personal Telecommunications Service

    Photo By Kristine Sturkie | A Sailor onboard USS Wasp uses a shipboard phone while underway. After 26 years, the...... read more read more

    VIRGINIA BEACH, VIRGINIA, UNITED STATES

    12.13.2021

    Story by Kristine Sturkie 

    Navy Exchange Service Command

    After 26 years, the Navy Exchange Service Command (NEXCOM) is officially ending its Afloat Personal Telecommunications Service (APTS) on Dec. 31, 2021. APTS provided personal calling on board select deployed U.S. Navy ships, using high quality satellite connectivity. Phone service will continue to be provided for ships deployed by Dec. 31, 2021.

    “It has been an honor to support our deployed Sailors and Marines with the ability to call loved ones back home,” said Mary Johnson, Vice President, NEXCOM’s Telecommunications Program Office. “However, due to a decline in demand along with an increase in operations and maintenance expenses with ongoing testing and popular usage of satellite Wi-Fi technology, the service has become unsustainable.”

    As part of this service, NEXCOM sold AT&T worldwide prepaid phone cards in the ships store. These cards can still be used ashore on landline and wireless phones in all foreign and domestic ports where AT&T has a presence.

    In 1994, the Chief of Naval Operations designated NEXCOM as the Navy’s program manager for unofficial personal telecommunications. NEXCOM’s Telecommunications Program Office (TPO) serves as the Navy's program manager for all ashore and afloat personal use telecommunications. The Ashore Program provides a variety of telecommunications services on Navy installations worldwide. By contracting with various vendors, TPO provides Wi-Fi services for NEX locations, brigs, Navy hospitals, unaccompanied housing, overseas family housing and Morale, Welfare and Recreation (MWR) facilities such as Liberty Centers, libraries, Child Development Centers, RV parks and bowling alleys. In addition, hospitality telecommunications services, including Wi-Fi and in-room telephones, are provided to Navy Lodges and Navy Gateway Inns & Suites (NGIS) locations worldwide.

    NEWS INFO

    Date Taken: 12.13.2021
    Date Posted: 12.13.2021 09:53
    Story ID: 410983
    Location: VIRGINIA BEACH, VIRGINIA, US

    Web Views: 150
    Downloads: 0

    PUBLIC DOMAIN