NEW YORK—London-based Inmarsat plc last week received permission from the Federal Communications Commission to begin offering satellite-based broadband service in the United States, where the company said it will focus initially on emergency workers dealing with the fallout from the upcoming hurricane season and broadcast media seeking alternatives to satellite dish-equipped trucks in remote or disaster-stricken areas.
Historically, Inmarsat has competed directly in MSS voice and data services with fellow mobile satellite service providers Iridium Satellite L.L.C. and Globalstar L.L.C., both of which recovered from bankruptcy to help grow the market for MSS. However, Inmarsat’s new offering—dubbed BGAN for broadband global area network—relies on its five different end-user terminals (some of which can support Bluetooth-enabled cellular handsets as an option), which are not hand-held, while Globalstar and Iridium’s services still use a lone handset. Also, Inmarsat’s BGAN service offers data rates many times faster than its competitors. The BGAN service relies on two geo-stationary, next-generation, I-4 satellites launched last year, one hovering 22,000 miles over the Indian Ocean and one over North and South America.
Analysts say the difference in end-user terminals and Inmarsat’s radically improved data speeds make apples-to-apples comparisons to its competitors difficult.
In 2004 the global MSS market was worth around $2 billion, but that number is expected to jump for 2005 by five to seven percent following a slew of natural disasters and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Industry revenue for last year is expected in June from the Satellite Industry Association.
Growth in the MSS industry now focuses on a shift from voice to data, much like the cellular market. The MSS industry is now focused on voice and data services for maritime, aeronautical, defense, disaster preparedness and remote terrestrial interests such as natural resource exploration.
Inmarsat’s service offers data speeds of up to 500 kilobits per second to land-based customers in North and South America. Such speeds are on par with the third-generation cellular networks from Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel Corp. and Cingular Wireless L.L.C. Users can send live video, e-mail or make voice calls on the BGAN system.
According to Inmarsat’s Web site, the company offers five distinct technologies for using the BGAN service, including devices by Hughes Network Systems, Thrane & Thrane, Nera and Addvalue.
Inmarsat reportedly invested $1.5 billion to launch BGAN. It launched service late last year in Europe and Asia. It will expand the land-based BGAN service to its traditional customers in the maritime and aeronautics industries as antenna issues are resolved and it launches one more next-generation satellite, this time in geo-stationary position over the Pacific Ocean.
