NEW DELHI, India—Thuraya mobile satellite services, being offered by Thuraya Satellite Telecommunications Company of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE), has reached a subscriber base of 32,000 in about 25 countries, within six months of its launch.
The subscribers are in Central Asia, the Middle East, and North and Central Africa. The largest number per country so far, about 5,000, is in Nigeria, stated Shawkat Ahmed, country manager of Thuraya, while talking to Global Wireless on the sidelines of Convergence 2001 exhibition here last week.
He said the service will soon be rolled out in many countries in South Asia. The Royal Nepal Army has already signed an agreement to use Thuraya’s satellite phones. In Bangladesh too, the services will be started in April.
In India, the company is negotiating with the Department of Telecommunications to install village phones using Thuraya’s satellite phones. The company has contracted U&I Systems Design, a Bangalore, India-based hardware manufacturer, for supply of 10,000 units of satellite docking adapters. This piece of hardware is used for installing Thuraya phones in homes.
