IJanuary 26, 2010
FIRST CALL MADE USING INMARSAT’S NEW GLOBAL HANDHELD
26th January 2010 – Inmarsat (LSE: ISAT), the leading provider of
global mobile satellite communications services, announced today
that the first call has been made using its global handheld service,
IsatPhone Pro, which is on track for launch in June 2010. The first
images of the new handset have also been released.
In preparation for launch, Inmarsat has passed a number of key
milestones in the development of the service and finalized some
essential contracts and distribution arrangements.
A contract to upgrade the Inmarsat ground network was completed on
schedule by Lockheed Martin, and further testing on the integration
between the handset and the ground network is underway.
Inmarsat’s partner for the handset development is Sasken
Communications Technologies, which has led development programmers
for most of the world’s top mobile phone manufacturers. Elcoteq, the
world’s third largest manufacturer of mobile phones, has been
appointed to produce IsatPhone Pro at its facility in Tallinn,
Estonia.
Eleven distribution partners, covering all geographic markets around
the world, have been selected to sell IsatPhone Pro at launch: AST,
China Telecom, Evosat, MCN, MVS, Network Innovations, NSSL, Satcom
Global, Singtel, Stratos and Vizada.
“The first call is a significant milestone, and we’re very pleased
with the voice quality in initial tests,” said Helen Stalker,
Commercial Director of Global Satellite Phone Services.
“IsatPhone Pro is the ultimate combination,” she said. “It’s a
robust handset that is easy to use, has long battery life, and
offers a reliable global network connection. And it’s provided by
Inmarsat, the market leader, with 30 years’ experience in providing
global mobile satellite services.” 2
IsatPhone Pro is targeted primarily at professional users in the
government, media, aid, oil and gas, mining and construction
sectors. It will offer satellite telephony, with Bluetooth for
hands-free use, voicemail, text and email messaging. Location data
will also be available to the user to look up or send in a text
message.
IsatPhone Pro is the first Inmarsat handheld to be purpose-built for
its network. Optimized to deliver the best performance from the
world’s most advanced mobile satellite network, it will be available
on a global basis over the three Inmarsat-4 satellites, which have
an operational lifetime into the 2020s.
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