Culminating seven years of development and fine-tuning, American Mobile Satellite Corp. has launched the country’s first satellite for mobile communications, giving lift-off to a new form of wireless services.
Hughes Communications Inc., a division of GM Hughes Electronics, built AMSC’s geostationary satellite, supporting mobile voice and data applications for a variety of users, including land mobile, maritime, aeronautical and fixed site markets, said Reston, Va.-based AMSC.
As part of AMSC’s $500 million venture, the company’s satellite was successfully launched earlier this month from Cape Canaveral, Fla. The satellite will travel to its assigned position, approximately 23,000 miles above Lubbock, Texas. Thus, the company is getting ready to introduce four mobile voice and data services, which should be ready by fall, according to Earl Galleher, marketing director for AMSC.
Services include dual-band satellite/cellular service for seamless coverage, telephone services configured to meet specific needs of different industries, fleet communications services and private network services. The satellite’s capacity can accommodate hundreds of thousands of subscribers, Galleher said.
Skycell Satellite Roaming Service will complement cellular service by activating service in areas where cellular coverage lapses. Using a dual-band phone, Skycell subscribers will experience seamless coverage, communicating on the cellular network when inside a cellular coverage area and automatically switching to the satellite network when leaving a coverage area, AMSC noted.
To date, 156 cellular carriers across the nation have committed to be authorized service providers for Skycell, AMSC said. AMSC is licensed to provide service only to customers in the United States and U.S. territories. However, as the satellite’s coverage extends throughout North America, including 200 miles of coastal regions, and reaches south to the Panama Canal, U.S. customers traveling into these regions will be able to continue communications on AMSC’s satellite network, according to Galleher.
Westinghouse Electronic Corp.’s Series 1000 dual-band phones, expected to cost about $2,000, are available as vehicle-mounted units or in briefcases equipped with satellite dishes. AMSC’s high-orbit satellite cannot receive signals from hand-held phones. Talk time will average $1.50 per minute, said Galleher, and customers will pay $25 per month in access fees.
AMSC’s Skycell Satellite Telephone Service is designed for service industries -including transportation and construction companies-public-safety agencies, rural dwellers without landline basic telephone service and others with remote communications access, such as maritime and aviation users. Westinghouse and Mitsubishi Electric Corp. are supplying AMSC transportable, fixed-site and vehicle-mounted satellite phones configured to meet the individual needs of various fields.
AMSC expects to compete with the International Mobile Satellite Organization for private and commercial maritime users. Most boats today lease capacity from Inmarsat for between $18,000 and $40,000 per month and pay from $4.50 to $8 per minute, Galleher commented. AMSC said it plans to charge about $3,500 per month and less than $2 per minute for Skycell phone service.
The company’s Fleet Communication Products consist of two-way mobile messaging-which enables users to send and receive data as well as Global Position System position reports-circuit-switched data and fax capabilities and private voice network service.
Circuit-switched data is designed to transfer large files, such as end-of-day status reports, and has a fax capability that facilitates sending and receiving smaller items, like bills and claim forms, from the field.
PVN service will support continent-wide communications, allowing a dispatcher to communicate with a single driver or an entire fleet using a single voice channel.
AMSC also will activate private network services this fall, whereby value-added resellers will lease satellite capacity to bring their own specialty products and services to niche markets. AMSC will provide the companies with switched service and network management services.
As part of the effort, more than $60 million has been committed to AMSC from IDB Mobile Communications and Maritime Network Inc., both serving primarily maritime markets, and National Satellite Networks, which provides service to government, public-safety and transportation industries.
Seattle-based NSN plans to offer its customers a data service, using packet-switched technology designed and built by Westinghouse. The data hub will operate in tandem with the Series 1000 telephone system.
These services “previously have been unavailable from any other source,” according to Vern Fotheringham, president and chief executive officer of NSN. NSN initially has committed to lease $10 million worth of AMSC’s capacity, said Galleher. Westinghouse plans to install NSN’s system at AMSC’s Reston facilities this spring, with service scheduled to begin early next year.
Established in 1988, AMSC received the first license to offer mobile satellite communications services in 1989. Originally, many companies were vying for MSS spectrum, but with only 28 megahertz available, the FCC suggested they join together to buy the license. Among the initial parties were Hughes Communications Inc., AT&T Corp./McCaw Cellular Communications Inc. and Mobile Telecommunications Technology Corp., which all continue to be owners of AMSC, Galleher said. In addition, Singapore Telecommunications, General Dynamics and the public stockholders also own stakes in the company today.
The FCC recently licensed Motorola Inc.’s Iridium project, TRW Inc.’s Odyssey system and Loral-Qualcomm L.P.’s Globalstar project to provide mobile satellite communications using low-earth-orbit satellites that can send signals to hand-held phones. The LEO operators are expected to have services operating by 1998.
