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Description of Business
3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2024
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]  
Description of Business Description of Business
KVH Industries, Inc. (together with its subsidiaries, the Company or KVH) designs, develops, manufactures and markets mobile connectivity services and products for the marine and land markets.

KVH’s service sales primarily represent revenue earned from satellite Internet airtime services. KVH provides, for monthly fixed and per-usage fees, satellite connectivity encompassing broadband Internet and VoIP services, to its TracNet H-series and TracPhone V-HTS series customers via KVH’s global high-throughput satellite (HTS) network. Revenue from our cellular airtime service increasingly supplements KVH’s satellite-only airtime revenue following the July 2022 launch of the KVH ONE hybrid network and TracNet H-series terminals. This service and product combination integrates global satellite service with KVH-provided cellular service in more than 150 countries, along with shore-based Wi-Fi access. The May 2023 introduction of the KVH ONE OpenNet Program expanded access to KVH's global HTS network and airtime services to non-KVH terminals for the first time.

AgilePlans, KVH’s connectivity as a service offering, is a monthly subscription model that provides global connectivity to commercial maritime customers. The subscription includes the choice of satellite-only and hybrid terminals, airtime data service, VoIP, daily news, subsidized shipping and installation, and global support for a monthly fee with no minimum contract commitment. KVH offers AgilePlans subscribers a variety of airtime data plans with varying data speeds and fixed data usage levels with per megabyte overage charges. These airtime plans are similar to those the Company offers to customers who elect to purchase or lease a TracNet H-series or TracPhone V-HTS series terminal.

The Company recognizes the monthly AgilePlans subscription fee as service revenue over the service delivery period. The Company retains ownership of the hardware it provides to AgilePlans customers, who must return the hardware to KVH if they decide to terminate the service. Because KVH does not sell the hardware under AgilePlans, the Company does not recognize any product revenue when the hardware is deployed to an AgilePlans customer. KVH records the cost of the hardware used by AgilePlans customers as revenue-generating assets and depreciates the cost over an estimated useful life of five years. Since the Company is retaining ownership of the hardware, it does not accrue any warranty costs for AgilePlans hardware; however, any maintenance costs on the hardware are expensed in the period these costs are incurred.

Service sales also include the distribution of commercially licensed entertainment, including news, sports, and movies to commercial customers in the maritime and hotel markets through the KVH Media Group, along with supplemental value-added cybersecurity, email, and crew internet services. In addition, KVH earns monthly usage fees from third-party satellite connectivity services, including VoIP, data and Internet services, provided to its Inmarsat and Iridium customers who choose to activate their subscriptions with KVH. Service sales also include sales from product repairs and extended warranty sales.

KVH’s satellite-only and hybrid products enable marine customers to receive data, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), and value-added services via satellite, cellular, and shore-based Wi-Fi networks onboard commercial, leisure, and military/government vessels. In addition, the Company’s in-motion television terminals permit customers to receive live digital television via regional satellite services in marine vessels, recreational vehicles, buses and automobiles. KVH sells its products through an extensive international network of dealers and distributors. KVH also sells and leases products to service providers and end users.

KVH's marine leisure business is highly seasonal, and seasonality can also impact the Company's commercial marine business, although typically to a lesser degree. Temporary suspensions of the Company's airtime services typically increase in the fourth and first quarters of each year as boats are placed out of service during the winter months. Historically, the Company has generated the majority of its marine leisure product revenues during the first and second quarters of each year, and these revenues typically decline in the third and fourth quarters of each year, compared to the first two quarters.

In February 2024, the Company announced a staged wind-down of its product manufacturing operations at its Middletown, Rhode Island location. The Company expects that it will continue its product manufacturing activities in order to generate a targeted amount of inventory of maritime satellite connectivity and satellite television terminals to meet anticipated demand and that it will cease substantially all manufacturing activity by the end of 2024. The Company expects to continue to facilitate customer transition to third-party hardware products compatible with its mobile satellite communications services.