NEW YORK-Stratos Global Corp., Toronto, has begun obtaining presale purchase agreements from customers for its new Inmarsat-M4 service, which will provide Integrated Services Digital Network communications by satellite.
Stratos said M4 will fill a gap in existing Inmarsat services, whose equipment lacks the ISDN connectivity necessary for transmission and reception of large-volume data applications like computer-assisted mapping and video streaming.
M4, which stands for Multi-Media mini-M, is also known as Mobile ISDN and Global Area Network.
Nera SatCom AS of Norway is the first of three device manufacturers expected to supply Stratos with Inmarsat-M4 terminals. Its WorldCommunicator will carry a suggested retail price of $11,000.
“Nera has type approval for M4 and will be in production soon,” Chris Kinman, director of Inmarsat products for Stratos, said at a press conference last month.
“Its [WorldCommunicator] weighs about 9 pounds and can hook up to a plain old phone to make regular calls.”
Thrane & Thrane of Denmark currently is developing its CapSat Messenger, which will have a handset integrated into it. STN-Atlas of Germany also is at work on its M4 unit, the NetLink.
Stratos intends to offer Inmarsat-M4 service at a cost of $7.50 per minute for data and $2.50 for voice communications.
“Because of Internet access, we have reduced terrestrial charges to zero,” Kinman said.
Stratos expects most of its American Inmarsat-M4 customers will take their units abroad for communications from remote places not served by terrestrial wireline or wireless telephony.
American customers who want to use the service within the United States can apply to the Federal Communications Commission for “special temporary authority because there is no like service,” said D D’Ambrosio, Stratos’ executive vice president, based in Bethesda, Md.
“[American Mobile Satellite Corp.] is without 64 [kilobits per second] service, so we can sell this in the [United States] under an STA. In many cases STAs have turned into permanent authority.”
The Department of Defense, for example, has a permanent, “blanket” authority to use Inmarsat. Stratos is targeting military services, remote industrial operations and broadcast news media for M4.
By the third quarter of 2000, Stratos also plans to begin offering Inmarsat F for ocean-going vessels. This digital service will make more efficient use than analog of Inmarsat’s bandwidth, which is “pushing its limits, with more than 120,000 customers,” Kinman said.
Within the next six months, Stratos also plans to begin offering Inmarsat packet data services, “which you can pay for as you use them,” he added.
