International Mobile Satellite Organization (IMSO)

The International Mobile Satellite Organization was established to provide the space segment necessary to meet the needs of developing maritime communications, in particular to improve maritime safety and to operate the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS).

This objective was later extended by amending the convention and the operating agreement to provide the space segment for land mobile and air traffic communications, and the organization was renamed the International Mobile Satellite Organization to reflect its amended objective. The organization was restructured in 2001, and member states use IMSO to monitor whether Inmarsat Ltd., to which the assets and operational activities previously belonging to the organization were transferred, complies with the Principles set out in Article 3 of the Convention and, thanks to its licenses, can ensure compliance with them.

IMSO was established in 1976 under the auspices of the International Maritime Organization as INMARSAT, in accordance with UN General Assembly Resolution 1721 (XVI), which called for the development of satellite communications on a global and nondiscriminatory basis. At the time of its founding, it had 28 member states, and currently the organization has 112 members.

Hungary joined the organization on July 24, 1997, and the NMHH has been representing it since 2014.