There are now some 700 GSM operators worldwide. Nearly all of them are tied to a local territory of operation, normally a country where they also have acquired some right of use of that territories GSM spectrum.

But what about if you want to provide GSM service on an aircraft or ship, where does the operator then reside?

This question came to the attention of the regulative authorities of the GSM world only a few years ago. The outcome of this work is that operators need to identify their service in such that is unambiguously clear to the consumer that the network does not belong to a terrestrial operator. The motive is to avoid any possibility of confusion with landbased communication and to alert the user that a premium service is offered.

There are currently 20 plus such operators globally, The operators are distinguished by the "901" network code prefix. Only two are directly and actively involved with maritime GSM services. SeaNet is one of them.