Inmarsat has been named best satellite operator in the annual Telecom Asia Awards, which recognise outstanding performance in the industry.

Organised by the leading telecoms publication and online news service, Telecom Asia, the awards are the longest-running and most prestigious telecoms industry accolades in Asia.

Inmarsat was chosen for the award by an independent judging panel, which considered nominees' performance in the financial, market, technology and corporate governance spheres, backed by research carried out by global IT and telecom consultancy firm Ovum.

Impressed
Robert Clark, head of the judging panel, said: "Inmarsat impressed the judges with its sharply-focused business model of delivering IP and mobile satellite broadband to key verticals.

"It is reaping the benefits of that approach with stronger growth and profitability in its recent financial results."

Inmarsat's director of satellite and network operations, Richard Denny, collected the award on behalf of the company during a ceremony in Phuket, Thailand.

The first contingent of a BGAN-equipped British armed forces expedition has begun the ascent of Makalu in the Himalaya.

Members of the main team, drawn from the Royal Air Force, Royal Navy and British Army have started posting daily blogs and pictures on the Makalu 2008 expedition website, using one of four Thrane & Thrane BGAN terminals loaned by Inmarsat partner NSSL.

All members of this main team reached an interim base camp at the south-east ridge on 7 April - 4,100 metres (13,451 feet) above sea level - beneath the world's fifth highest mountain.

A few days later they moved to another base camp climbing a further 1,000 metres (3,281 feet). From there they started their ascent to the summit of Makalu at 8,463 metres (27,770 feet) from the north-east.

Torrential rain
Spectacular pictures and powerful accounts of their exhausting journey to the mountain have been posted online via Inmarsat for the world to read.

While ascending the Shipton La peak, Lieutenant Angela Laycock wrote: "The last two days have been pretty emotional ones. We started yesterday in our shorts and T-shirts enjoying an English summer's day with a few clouds looming. After just a few hours it became a typical Welsh day with torrential rain.

"After lunch it felt as if we had been transported into a Scottish winter and by this point most of us were fully Gortex'd up!"

The expedition is raising funds for SOS Children's Villages, an international charity that provides family environments, schools and communities for orphaned and abandoned children.

FleetBroadband scooped a prestigious award for innovation at the Lloyd's List London Awards for 2008

The cutting-edge voice and high-speed data service came in for praise from the judges as fresh evidence of Inmarsat's unwavering support for the maritime community.

The judges recognised Inmarsat's "continuing commitment" to serving the maritime industry "from its original remit in safety and distress communications to the current range of voice and data services" .

Inmarsat's head of maritime business, Piers Cunningham, received the award in front of 450 guests during a ceremony at the Natural History Museum in London.

Independent Panel
Piers said: "It's a great honour to receive the innovation award for FleetBroadband from such an esteemed body.

"The category was judged by a completely independent panel of maritime experts. It's very rare to have no idea whether you've won an award before it's announced but this was kept under wraps until the night, which is why the awards are so highly respected."

Inmarsat has agreed a location in Manhattan, New York City, for its new North American 'meet-me point'.

As previously reported in Connect E-News, the high tech-facility will be a convenient and cost-effective nexus where Partners and their customers can connect to the BGAN network.

BGAN traffic from the satellite access station at Burum, the Netherlands, will be routed across the Atlantic to TelX Inc, a carrier co-location facility based at 60 Hudson Street in Manhattan.

"This new meet-me point will ensure a 'level playing field' for our North America Distribution Partners," says Graeme Gordon, Inmarsat's land mobile product manager.

"They will be able to connect to the BGAN network via high-speed Ethernet or T1 cables just as easily and securely as our Europe-based Partners."

TelX Inc is an internationally recognized operator of telecom network interconnection facilities. The company says that more than 250 networks physically converge within its Hudson Street facility.

DPs will be able to establish their own points of presence (PoPs) at Hudson Street, or route their BGAN traffic to PoPs elsewhere.

Large-scale BGAN users, such as broadcasters, will also have the option of linking direct to the meet-me point, although they will have to do so in conjunction with a DP.

Inmarsat is considering the business benefits of establishing other meet-me points elsewhere in the world.

For more information about the Manhattan facility, please contact your DP or Inmarsat account manager.

13-02-2008 - A three-week, 4,500-mile trek to Timbuktu in an ageing Vauxhall Corsa car relied on Inmarsat BGAN to keep in touch from some of the remotest places on Earth.

For racers Alex Lane and Sylvia Hermann - also known as the Monkeyrunners - a BGAN terminal definitely made their list of essential equipment, along with the toolkit, water and mosquito repellent.

Inmarsat loaned journalist Alex and his partner a Explorer 100 terminal made by Thrane & Thrane for the Timbuktu Challenge - an annual charity race from London to Mali by vehicles which must be worth less than £100 (US$51).

Those motor vehicles that cross the finishing line are auctioned off to support local good causes.

Alex wanted the BGAN terminal so he could transmit regular blogs, video and photos to his Timbuktu Challenge website, and keep in touch with family and supporters back home in the UK.

"It was excellent," said Alex. "It was really easy to set up and use and it fitted into a standard laptop bag.

"Certainly in places like Mauritania and Mali we were in and out of areas where you could get mobile phone coverage. So it was great being able to get online and update the blog."

By Gregg Swanson

The BGAN mobile satellite terminal has been around now for about 18 months, with a growing number of users reporting high confidence in the system and the Inmarsat broadband network. Recently, we tested the newest of the BGAN terminals, the Sabre I, and were impressed. Known as the Wideye Sabre I, the terminal weighs only 1.6 kg (3.5 pounds) and would easily fit in a backpack: 10 x 6.5 inches (not including the 1.2 inch protruding hinge on the base). It appears to be a sturdy, rugged design, much like the larger Hughes 9201. The Sabre I was designed by a Singapore company, AddValue Technologies.

There are two compelling reasons for looking at the Sabre I:
First, it is an excellent value, priced approximately at the cost of an Iridium satphone.
Second, it has an excellent voice capability, in addition to broadband Internet. The cost is less than 80 cents per minute. You simply plug in a conventional telephone (RJ-11 connection) or use the small handset provided, and dial as you would an international call: 00 + country code + number. It took about 30 - 40 seconds to connect. On our test to land and cell phones, the voice quality was uniformly excellent, better than many cell phone connections. There was very little "lag" or latency, making it easy to converse. The Internet data connection was a bit slower than with the Hughes, which has a larger antenna. We were connected from Portland, Oregon, USA with an elevation to the Inmarsat satellite only 5 degrees above the eastern horizon. Even in light rain, the speed was more than satisfactory. Normal Web pages took 2-4 seconds to load, and a photo-intensive Flickr page took about 10 seconds.

Setup was straightforward, using the Quick Start Guide provided. A complete User Manual was also included in the CD that came with the terminal. The Sabre 1 is simple to understand and operate. There are three ports: power, Ethernet, and the RJ-11 for a phone or handset. The terminal comes with an AC charger, but a DC car charger must be ordered separately. Connecting to a laptop with an Ethernet cable has two advantages: no USB driver to install and keep updated, and you can use up to 200 feet of cable from laptop to BGAN. Upon power up, the Sabre I quickly acquired the GPS location and went into antenna pointing mode. Acquiring the satellite signal was easy with the customary audio tone. When the terminal acquired the signal, it immediately began to register with the network. Within a minute of power up, we could place a call using the handset. A Bluetooth wireless handset is also available.
(Note: this is not Voip, or voice over IP. It is a specialized analog channel for phone calls.) For Internet access, we connected the laptop by Ethernet and used the LaunchPad software The only complication in our test was that a firmware upgrade was required in order to enable the Standard IP connection to the Internet. We downloaded the upgrade from the Inmarsat Web site, installed it using the directions given (15 minutes total) and the Standard IP connection has worked well every time.

The LCD window is a very nice feature, allowing the user to check or change settings and – when the service is introduced – even receive text messages.
Users who are "off the grid" will need to consider solar charging or some other provision for power. The battery is not large, and the spec sheet states "one hour continuous transmission at data rate <= 72kbps." The lithium ion battery will give you three hours in receive only, and (according to specifications) 36 hours in Standby. We have not tested these specs, but will soon. While the Explorer series of BGANs are somewhat lighter and smaller, to date they have been priced higher than the Hughes 9201 (which has integrated WiFi) and much higher than the Sabre I. Users who need to travel light, and those who need to replace their RBGAN by end 2008, should consider this terminal.

For Immediate Release

Mobile Satellite Ventures Awarded Industry-Leading Interference Reduction Patent

Technologies of New Patent Designed to Improve Quality of Service While Increasing Satellite and Terrestrial Capacity

Reston, Va., February 6, 2008 -- Mobile Satellite Ventures (MSV) announced today that it has been awarded a new patent by the U.S. Patent Office that protects technologies relating to the reduction of interference, resulting in improved quality of service and increased capacity.

U.S. Patent No. 7,295,807 is entitled “Methods and Systems for Configuring Satellite Antenna Cell Patterns in Response to Terrestrial Use of Satellite Frequencies.”

According to the patent’s inventor, Dr. Peter D. Karabinis, the technologies disclosed are currently being developed for MSV’s next generation satellite-terrestrial 4G network and are expected to result in customer benefits including improved voice quality, higher data rates, and lower costs.

“A satellite system may inadvertently receive interference from another system (terrestrial or satellite) that is authorized to use the same frequencies. This can have a detrimental impact on the quality of service and capacity,” explained Dr. Karabinis, who serves as senior vice president and chief technical officer at MSV. “However, interference tends to be directional; that is, it arrives at a specific angle relative to a desired signal. Exploiting this principle, the patent protects novel techniques of identifying the direction of arrival of interference and responsively modifying the satellite’s antenna pattern to maximally reject the interference,” Dr. Karabinis added.

According to Dr. Karabinis, the techniques included in this patent not only provide increased operational protection for MSV’s space-based network, but also increase capacity for MSV’s ATC service without encumbering satellite operations.

MSV is Redefining Wireless Communications™ through its development of a hybrid satellite-terrestrial communications network, based on MSV’s patented ancillary terrestrial component (ATC) technology. The company expects its next-generation network will provide seamless, transparent and ubiquitous wireless coverage of the United States and Canada to conventional handsets. MSV plans to launch two of the most powerful commercial satellites ever built that will enable this network to support communications in a variety of areas including public safety, homeland security, aviation, transportation and entertainment, by providing a platform for interoperable, user-friendly and feature-rich voice and high-speed data services.

Mobile Satellite Ventures is a joint venture between Mobile Satellite Ventures LP and Mobile Satellite Ventures (Canada) Inc. MSVLP is owned and controlled by SkyTerra Communications, Inc. (OTCBB: SKYT).

# # #

About Mobile Satellite Ventures and SkyTerra Communications, Inc.
MSV’s MSAT-2 satellite and MSV Canada’s MSAT-1 satellite deliver mobile wireless voice and data services primarily for public safety, security, fleet management and asset tracking in the U.S. and Canada. MSV and MSV Canada are developing a hybrid satellite-terrestrial communications network, which they expect will provide seamless, transparent and ubiquitous wireless coverage of the United States and Canada to conventional handsets. MSV holds the first FCC license to provide hybrid satellite-terrestrial services. MSV and MSV Canada plan to launch two satellites for coverage of the United States and Canada, which are expected to be among the largest and most powerful commercial satellites ever built. When completed, the network is expected to support communications in a variety of areas including public safety, homeland security, aviation, transportation and entertainment, by providing a platform for interoperable, user-friendly and feature-rich voice and high-speed data services. For more information go to http://www.msvlp.com.

Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act
This news release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act, with respect to plans described in this news release. Such statements generally include words such as could, can, anticipate, believe, expect, seek, pursue, proposed, potential and similar words. Such forward-looking statements are subject to uncertainties relating to the ability of SkyTerra and MSV to raise additional capital or consummate a strategic transaction or deploy the next generation system, as well as the ability of SkyTerra and MSV to execute their business plan. We assume no obligation to update or supplement such forward-looking statements.

For Immediate Release

SkyTerra, Mobile Satellite Ventures and Inmarsat Sign Spectrum Coordination and Cooperation Agreement

Pact Provides for L-Band Contiguity for Improved Efficiency and MSS/ATC Operational Parameters

RESTON, Va., LONDON and OTTAWA, December 21, 2007 – SkyTerra Communications, Inc. (OTCBB : SKYT), Inmarsat plc (LES : ISAT), Mobile Satellite Ventures (MSV) and Mobile Satellite Ventures (Canada) Inc. (MSV Canada) announced today that the companies have reached a comprehensive cooperative agreement for L-Band operations in North America. The agreement is intended to enable the re-banding and efficient reuse of a substantial segment of North American L-Band radio spectrum for the benefit of the companies and their current and future customers and partners.

The agreement encompasses a wide scope of activities including business, technology, regulatory and spectrum coordination issues.

Highlights of the agreement include:

• Provisions for the re-banding of the parties’ spectrum over North America to afford contiguous spectrum for operations. This is intended to address growing broadband requirements for enabling future hybrid mobile satellite services (MSS) and ancillary terrestrial component (ATC) services.
• Coordination parameters for the parties’ next generation satellites covering North America, both the new Inmarsat-4s and the new MSV1 and MSV2 satellites, in a manner designed to increase spectrum efficiency and protect both MSS and ATC operations from harmful interference.
• Resolution between the parties of outstanding regulatory issues in the United States and Canada, concerning each other’s operations.
• Accommodating increased technical flexibility and system enhancements that result in greater ATC usage and operations while protecting MSS.
• Flexibility to market and operate devices which address growing wireless broadband demands while providing a next-generation satellite capability.

In addition, the agreement also establishes a structure by which Inmarsat will modify its North American operations in a manner that will enable MSV to make more extensive use of L-Band spectrum available for MSS/ATC than is possible today.

“This agreement introduces a new era of cooperation among L-Band operators and, we believe, will help unlock the growing value of ATC technology on our now enhanced spectrum, enabling customers throughout North America to reap the benefits from greater flexibility and choices in air interface technology, coverage and equipment options,” said Alexander Good, CEO and President of SkyTerra and Vice Chairman and CEO of Mobile Satellite Ventures LP. “We have worked long and hard with Inmarsat to develop this agreement, which sets operational parameters in the L-band for existing satellite operations and lays the groundwork for future cooperation to address consumers’ demand for next generation technology and services.”

“Inmarsat’s agreement with MSV, MSV Canada and SkyTerra lays the groundwork for increased operational and technical cooperation while ensuring that Inmarsat can continue to grow and deploy mobile satellite services in North America, including BGAN services and our portfolio of existing and evolved offerings,” said Andrew Sukawaty, Chairman and CEO of Inmarsat.

All of the above provisions are subject to applicable regulatory approvals. Additional details regarding the agreement, including financial terms between the parties, can be found in SkyTerra’s 8-K that has been filed with the SEC. The 8-K is available on the EDGAR system and is posted to the financial information section of the SkyTerra Web site - www.skyterra.com.

About Mobile Satellite Ventures and SkyTerra Communications, Inc.
MSV has been delivering mobile wireless voice and data services primarily for public safety, security, fleet management and asset tracking in the U.S. and Canada using MSV Canada’s MSAT-1 and MSV’s MSAT-2 satellites for over 10 years. MSV is developing a hybrid satellite-terrestrial communications network in North America, based on MSV’s patented ancillary terrestrial component (ATC) technology. MSV is a joint venture between Mobile Satellite Ventures LP and Mobile Satellite Ventures (Canada) Inc. MSVLP is majority owned and controlled by SkyTerra Communications, Inc. (OTCBB:SKYT). More information can be found at www.msvlp.com.

About Inmarsat plc
Inmarsat plc (LSE:ISAT) is the leading provider of global mobile satellite communications. Since 1979, Inmarsat has been providing reliable voice and high-speed data communications to governments, enterprises and other organizations, with a range of services that can be used on land, at sea or in the air. The company’s services are delivered through a global network of more than 500 distribution partners and service providers operating in 180 countries. For the year ended 31 December 2006, Inmarsat plc had total revenue of US$500.1 million. More information can be found at www.inmarsat.com.

Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act
This news release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act, with respect to plans described in this news release. Such statements generally include words such as could, can, anticipate, believe, expect, seek, pursue, proposed, potential and similar words. Such forward-looking statements are subject to uncertainties relating to the ability of SkyTerra and MSV to raise additional capital or consummate a strategic transaction or deploy the next generation system, as well as the ability of SkyTerra and MSV to execute their business plan. We assume no obligation to update or supplement such forward-looking statements.

Dear BGAN Customers,

During August 2007 Inmarsat circulated the bulletin below detailing a plan to change the way that mobile terminated 3.1KHz data and fax calls are managed in the BGAN network. This email is to inform you that the update will take place on Wedneday 10th October at 10:00 UTC. 
Inmarsat anticipates that the changes will result in an increase in successful termination of fax and data calls to BGAN numbers in the +870
78 xxx xxxx range.
Where success is not seen the cause, in the vast majority of cases, will be the choice of bearer circuits used before the call hits the BGAN
network, i.e the lack of success is not within Inmarsat's control. Where a fax or data transmission has been sent through bearer circuits where an inappropriate transmission medium is used (e.g. compression) calls will still terminate at the BGAN terminal but the data sent and received will not be decipherable.

The user experience will be as follows:

• Device 1, for example a fax machine, will initiate a call to a BGAN terminal
• The call will terminate and the BGAN will connect and answer
• Device 1 then initiates a protocol handshake with the BGAN terminal but this action will fail due to the use of the inappropriate bearer circuit.
• After a short period following the unsuccessful protocol handshake attempts the originating device will initiate a call clear action and the call will be disconnected.The call will be chargeable until such point it is cleared.

If a customer experiences the above when attempting a fax or data call they should be advised to contact their local PSTN service provider.
 
ORIGINAL BULLETIN:

Dear BGAN users,

Since the beginning of the year there has been an increase in the number of reported BGAN fixed to mobile calls failing while using the 3.1khz service to send fax and data messages.
Investigation in to these failed calls has identified that the issue is caused by some terrestrial networks incorrectly tagging the call as “speech” instead of “3.1khz”. In this scenario the Inmarsat switch will block and terminate the call (because it is tagged incorrectly), and no charge is made to the calling party.  Terminating the call in this way ensures that the connection that is established to the BGAN terminal is optimised for data/fax communications.
Feedback from customers indicates that terminating this type of call is not beneficial and that Inmarsat should allow all call types to be passed. Operation would then be as the LESO’s method of allowing all call types to pass through to the Inmarsat BGAN service.
During September Inmarsat propose removing the blocking described above. This change may mean that a small number of calls will connect but will not be able to pass traffic because the configuration settings on some modems will not recognise these calls. However, because these calls have been connected (and therefore used satellite resource) they will be chargeable.

Dear BGAN Customers,

Wideye Sabre1 Firmware version R011.1.4 and Ethernet VSP driver version v1.4.0

We are pleased to inform you that the Sabre1 firmware version RO11.1.4 with Windows and MAC Upgrader and Ethernet VSP driver version v1.4.0 is now available for download from the Inmarsat website at http://www.inmarsat.com/support/BGAN. You can also download this release through the BGAN LaunchPad Update feature from 1st October 2007.  Please se