Enhanced high-speed data capacity over the Middle East

Inmarsat GAN is used by all of the world's major broadcasters as a mobile data communications service via satellite enabling them to report quickly and from closer to the action. Organisations like the BBC, CNN, NBC and ABC use Inmarsat GAN to connect their videophones with their studios for live broadcasts of worldwide news events. Videophone via Inmarsat GAN was used extensively during the Afghanistan conflict, and has also been used during many major natural disasters to coordinate safety issues and services.

A number of the world's aid agencies and Governments also use Inmarsat GAN for reliable mobile ISDN services as it offers speeds of up to 64kbit/s, which can be further extended by bonding two or more GANs together.

"Inmarsat is about providing businesses with reliable, global communications services wherever and whenever they need it, irrespective of the constraints of the terrestrial network," said Michael Butler, Managing Director of Inmarsat Ltd.

"By establishing a 5th Ocean Region we are confident that we can meet the growing demand for our services in this region by the world media and aid agencies."

Inmarsat manages a global network of nine satellites in geostationary orbit. Up until today, only four of these satellites were required to provide the on demand high-data rate services on a near global basis for Inmarsat GAN. The other five satellites together acted as in-orbit spares, whilst also providing a global leasing network for certain Inmarsat services. The addition of the fifth satellite to the main fleet, a latest generation Inmarsat 3 satellite, ensures Inmarsat provides continuous reliable communications services to its customers in the Middle East.

"We pride ourselves in providing a level of satellite and network availability which, at an average of better than 99.99%, is the envy of terrestrial communications networks," explained Richard Denny, VP of Satellite & Network Operations at Inmarsat.
The world's media remain one of Inmarsat's biggest customers. Inmarsat land solutions were used extensively during the first Gulf War as reporters tried to cover the conflict without large uplink trucks, and heavy and expensive equipment. But it was really the use of videophone, developed within the Inmarsat partnership that propelled Inmarsat GAN usage forward. Today, most broadcasters maintain a stock of the GAN terminals to allow their reporters to follow the action from first hand.

CNN Reporter Nic Robertson used Inmarsat GAN and videophone extensively in Afghanistan: "Videophones put you in the heart of a story and allow you to broadcast live within minutes, following the changes in a story and without having to go back to base. For example, in Kabul we simply unfolded the Inmarsat satellite antenna and opened the videophone box, connected the camera and transmitted live pictures immediately. The need to haul hundreds of kilogrammes of cumbersome satellite equipment and to feel restricted by a satellite truck is now history."