[F00Fbug]

Yeah... not AIS, but NOAA defined VMS (Vessel Monitoring Systems). Not only does it report position, but allows captains to send in their reporting data while at sea, in an electronic format that they could ingest directly into their systems. They also allow "email" and some weather reporting.

I led the development of one of these systems from a software standpoint: https://thoriumvms.com/

They're not cheap -- $2K or $3K depending on options and $40ish/month for service. We were reselling Iridium service as the underlying transport.

Looks like the bottom just fell out of this business -- glad I'm not relying that for my paycheck anymore!