Inmarsat powers remote press centre for U.A.E. Desert Challenge for 7th consecutive year

Innovative satellite technology powers the remote press centre, while race officials can manage logistics and driver safety from any location on the desert track.

Samer Halawi, Vice President, Corporate Strategic Development at Inmarsat, said,

"We are delighted to be supporting the U.A.E. Desert Challenge for the 7th year in a row. Our participation reaffirms our commitment to this important region and the value that Inmarsat's mobile satellite communications services bring to areas where terrestrial communications do not exist."

Halawi added,

"This year we are powering the press and the operations centers again with our BGAN¹ terminals and IsatPhone² to support reporters in filing their stories, pictures, and videos, and to support officials and monitoring stations in running the operations of the race and in reporting results, outside areas of terrestrial coverage. Our BGAN service has been highly successful in the region since its launch, especially with the media sector. Our recent announcement of an upgrade in the data speed of our streaming BGAN service to 384 kbit/s is in line with the media requirements, and will result in significant improvements to the quality of live video, when the service is launched by mid 2009."

As in the last 6 years, the press centre, located in an isolated desert area with no terrestrial communications, is powered by Inmarsat's IsatPhone and BGAN satellite terminals, allowing sports reporters to file their stories and pictures, call their headquarters, and upload their articles to the Internet.

IsatPhone and BGAN will also be used by race officials during the event to manage logistics and keep track of drivers as they progress on the desert track, ensuring their safety at all times.

Last year, Inmarsat successfully powered the U.A.E. Desert Challenge press center with BGAN terminal and the IsatPhone.

It was the first time that the IsatPhone was introduced to the race and used to support journalists throughout the event.

The press centre was accessible from the early hours of the morning till late in the evenings allowing journalists to file their stories and photographs as soon as they were ready, using Inmarsat's terminals.