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Description of Business | 9 Months Ended
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Sep. 30, 2018
Description of Business [Abstract] |
Description of Business | Description of Business KVH Industries, Inc. (together with its subsidiaries, the Company or KVH) is a leading manufacturer of solutions that provide global high-speed Internet, television, and voice services via satellite to mobile users at sea and on land. KVH is also a leading provider of commercially licensed entertainment, including news, sports, music, and movies, to commercial and leisure customers in the maritime, hotel, and retail markets. In addition, the Company develops and distributes training films and eLearning computer-based training courses to commercial maritime customers. KVH is also a premier manufacturer of high-performance navigational sensors and integrated inertial systems for defense and commercial applications. KVH’s reporting segments are as follows:
• | the mobile connectivity segment and
• | the inertial navigation segment
KVH’s mobile connectivity products enable customers to receive voice services, Internet services, and live digital television via satellite services in marine vessels, recreational vehicles, buses and automobiles. KVH’s CommBox offers a range of tools designed to increase communication efficiency, reduce costs, and manage network operations. KVH sells and leases its mobile connectivity products through an extensive international network of dealers and distributors. KVH also sells and leases products directly to end users. In October 2017, KVH introduced a new 60-cm diameter TracPhone V7-HTS Ku-band antenna which is designed to deliver faster data speeds globally to the maritime market. KVH is able to offer download/upload speeds as fast as 10 Mbps/3 Mbps by combining KVH’s proprietary antenna system design and industry-leading mini-VSAT Broadband network, along with partnering with Intelsat Epic satellite services for high throughput satellite (HTS) capabilities and additional capacity from SKY Perfect JSAT satellites. With the HTS network, the Company added an additional 25 million square miles to our global maritime Ku-band high-speed connectivity footprint. KVH’s mobile connectivity service sales primarily represent sales earned from satellite voice and Internet airtime services. KVH provides, for monthly fixed and usage fees, satellite connectivity services, including broadband Internet, data and VoIP services, to its TracPhone V-series customers. In the second quarter of 2017, the Company launched a new mini-VSAT Broadband service offering, AgilePlans, which is a monthly subscription model providing global connectivity to commercial maritime customers, including hardware, installation, broadband Internet, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), entertainment and training content and global support for a monthly fee with no minimum commitment. KVH offers AgilePlans customers a variety of airtime data plans with varying data speeds and fixed data usage levels with overage charges per megabyte, which is similar to the plans that the Company offers to its other customers. The Company recognizes the monthly subscription fee as service revenue over the service delivery period. The Company retains ownership of the hardware that 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. Mobile connectivity service sales also include the distribution of commercially licensed entertainment, including news, sports, music, and movies to commercial and leisure customers in the maritime, hotel, and retail markets through KVH Media Group, and the distribution of training films and eLearning computer-based training courses to commercial customers in the maritime market through Super Dragon Limited and Videotel Marine Asia Limited (together referred to as Videotel). KVH also earns monthly usage fees from third-party satellite connectivity services, including voice, data and Internet services, provided to its Inmarsat and Iridium customers who choose to activate their subscriptions with KVH. Mobile connectivity service sales also include engineering services provided under development contracts, sales from product repairs, and extended warranty sales. KVH's inertial navigation products offer precision fiber optic gyro (FOG)-based systems that enable platform and optical stabilization, navigation, pointing and guidance. KVH’s inertial navigation products also include tactical navigation systems that provide uninterrupted access to navigation and pointing information in a variety of military vehicles, including tactical trucks and light armored vehicles. KVH’s inertial navigation products are sold directly to U.S. and foreign governments and government contractors, as well as through an international network of authorized independent sales representatives. In addition, KVH's inertial navigation technology is used in numerous commercial products, such as navigation and positioning systems for various applications including precision mapping, dynamic surveying, autonomous vehicles, train location control and track geometry measurement systems, industrial robotics and optical stabilization. KVH’s inertial navigation service sales include product repairs, engineering services provided under development contracts and extended warranty sales.

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- Definition The entire disclosure for the nature of an entity's business, major products or services, principal markets including location, and the relative importance of its operations in each business and the basis for the determination, including but not limited to, assets, revenues, or earnings. For an entity that has not commenced principal operations, disclosures about the risks and uncertainties related to the activities in which the entity is currently engaged and an understanding of what those activities are being directed toward. + References Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 275 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/topic&trid=2134479 + Details
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