Inmarsat Satellite Services

November 26 2000Inmarsat Ltd, the global mobile satellite communications company, announced today contracts in the region of US$220 million with Hughes Network Systems (HNS) and Thuraya to launch a 144 kbit/s mobile broadband service in 2002 using the Thuraya satellite system. The new service is planned to enable Inmarsat service users to have faster access to internet and intranet content and solutions, email, and remote LAN access over Europe (excluding Scandanavia), Northern Africa, the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent. The new service is planned to be available during 2002 using the Thuraya satellite system and is part of Inmarsat's strategy to develop high bandwidth data solutions to meet the needs of national, multinational and government customers doing business within the Thuraya coverage area. These include those working in industry segments like construction, mining, transport, media, manufacturing, finance and global services. Inmarsat has leased capacity on the new Thuraya-1 geostationary satellite, which was launched on Saturday 21st October. Inmarsat has also contracted HNS to build a new ground station and a gateway to provide packet data services via the Internet to service providers, and to develop end user mobile wireless terminals. ``We are extremely excited about this project,'' said Michael Storey, President and CEO of Inmarsat Ventures Ltd. ``Our new service means we can start to deliver broadband data services via satellite to our customers in advance of our next generation Inmarsat I-4 satellite system planned for 2004. ``Inmarsat's broadband communications strategy has been designed in response to the significant increase forecast in the demand for content-rich mobile wireless communications solutions. This demand is expected to be particularly strong among business users as a result of a number of forces including, that of e-commerce, and the increasing globalisation of business and mobility of workforces. ``Wireless terrestrial communications are largely Metropolitan based. Inmarsat's broadband services will extend beyond the reach of urban centres of population and by 2004 are planned to be available in approximately 80% of the geographical areas in which users of our existing services operate. In that sense Inmarsat offers a celestial extension to terrestrial networks,'' Storey said. Thuraya's Chairman Mr. Mohammad Omran said, ``This partnering with Inmarsat marks the industry's confidence in Thuraya's capability to provide a wide range of voice and data services, as well as Global Positioning System (GPS) services, efficiently through the flexibility and versatility of its mobile satellite system''. He also added ``We are pleased to expand our service portfolio, emphasising that Thuraya's strategy is to continuously expand and innovate its service offerings to customers from various sectors''. HNS is contracted to build the ground station and gateway and site installation work is expected to start late in 2001. Inmarsat's network control centre will be upgraded as part of this contract allowing system management from Inmarsat's London headquarters. Service providers will be able to interconnect to the ground station using standard terrestrial Internet protocols, making it cheaper and easier for them to provide these new services to their customers. The new service provided over the Thuraya satellite system will support data rates of up to 144 kbit/s compatible with GPRS terrestrial cellular services and will support SIM card roaming from cellular service providers. The new user terminals being built by HNS will be designed to have both wired and wireless connections to PC's. Weighing around 1kg, including batteries, they are planned to be about the size of a Notebook computer. The new service is part of Inmarsat's focus on delivering high broadband solutions to customers, ranging from its existing 64 kbit/s Global Area Network (GAN) Mobile ISDN and planned packet data services. To the 144 kbit/s regional service to be provided through Thuraya, and its 432 kbit/s B-GAN service to be provided over the planned Inmarsat I-4 satellite system to most of the world's landmass during 2004. Inmarsat Ltd operates a global satellite network and distributes its solutions through a worldwide group of service providers to end customers in the maritime, land and aeronautical corporate sectors. Visit www.inmarsat.com for more information. Thuraya Satellite Telecommunications Company will provide mobile satellite telephony to 99 countries in Europe, North and Central Africa, Middle East, Central Asia and the Indian Subcontinent