Inmarsat sets pace with fast mobile data service - Product Announcement

Inmarsat Ltd. is turning its attention to the mobile data market with a $10,000-plus mobile satellite terminal that can provide 64- or 56-kilobit-per-second connections from anywhere in the world. The service is being labeled "mobile ISDN."

Global mobile satellite operators offering voice services are seeing ever-spreading cellular networks erode their advantage. Inmarsat hopes to steal a arch by offering data rates substantially faster than those currently available over cellular terrestrial systems, or over satellite systems such as Iridium and Globalstar, which were designed for voice traffic and offer a meager 2.4 to 9.6-Kbps data rate.

The new product, called the Global Area Network (GAN), is a 4.4-kilogram terminal that resembles a laptop computer and can be hooked up to a PC to give users a relatively fast data connection wherever they are located. Inmarsat's market research says that 100,000 corporate "units"--laptop-wielding users--have the correct attributes to make use of the service. The product will be launched at Telecom '99 in Geneva next month.

"GAN is an extension of an existing corporate network; it stretches the reach of a typical corporate," said Andrew Ivey, marketing manager at Inmarsat.

Remote users

However, early users are likely to be based in remote locations such as international aid and satellite news-gathering organizations, rather than big corporates. "The terminal is capable of providing fairly high-speed Internet access from any place in the world. The market will snap it up," said Ahmad Ghais, president of the Mobile Satellite Users Association, McLean, Virginia. He added that the primary users "won't be the mythical international business traveler, but will be the transportation industry, in the broadest sense, including oil and gas, shipping, [and] possibly aviation."

GAN will cost $6.50 a minute to use. Meanwhile, Inmarsat continues to sell mini-M terminals--laptop-sized global telephones that retail for about $3,000 and have service for $3 a minute or so--at a rate of more than 1,000 a month. The mini-M offers a 2.4-Kbps data rate, the same as Iridium.

'I can't wait' product

Dick Tauber, vice president and director, satellites and circuits, for Atlanta, Georgia-based international television broadcaster CNN, described it as an "I can't wait" product. CNN is a heavy user of mobile international telecoms networks around the world and places high priority on quality mobile systems. Tauber said the satellite data terminals CNN currently uses cost two to four times the price of Inmarsat's new product, are bulkier and cost $10-$16 a minute to use.

CNN will pair two of the terminals to get a 128-Kbps rate. "128 is a huge advantage," he said. "Video takes an unbelievable amount of data."

Meanwhile, mobile data traffic climbs. Data represents 40% of overall traffic on the Inmarsat system and grew by 50% last year.

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