Accelerated regional demand drives mobile satcom industry expansion

The pavilion of the world's leading mobile satellite communications company, shared this year with Marlink and Telecom Italia, will be a showcase of the Middle East market's immense potential as the mobile satcom industry continues to grow. Inmarsat will also be on a partner recruitment drive at the show, kicking off with a major satcoms event on the 18th at the Emirates Towers Hotel.

Michael Butler, Inmarsat's Managing Director, said: 'Our commitment to this region, and to meeting its needs for cost effective and convenient mobile satellite access led us to the launch of Regional BGAN last year. In the 10 months since launch, the demand for the service has surged with over 2,300 activated terminals - making it one of the fastest take-ups we have experienced in 23-years of business. With Regional BGAN, government bodies, NGOs, oil and gas companies, business travellers, media and rural schools have experienced the reality of mobile broadband Internet access via satellite.'

According to Samer Halawi, Inmarsat's Regional Director, Inmarsat rapidly signed up distribution partners and service providers throughout the Middle East and North Africa, in response to the potential demand for the service. 'The Inmarsat Regional BGAN channel has expanded extremely rapidly over the past few months. Customers are beginning to recognise that nothing matches the service for its coverage and high-speed data connectivity,' Halawi added.

Regional BGAN provides users with a cost-effective and very portable mobile data communication system that is twice as fast as current terrestrial General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) services in areas poorly served by other telecommunication services. Its predecessor, Inmarsat Global Area Network (GAN), also dominated the mobile satcom market earlier this year, with the international media pouring into the region to cover the events in and around Iraq. GAN supports videophone, a specialist a video conferencing technology adopted for use of live reporting and live feeds from locations remote locations where telecommunication infrastructure is not available.

Michael Butler ends: 'Last year's Gitex saw the debut of Regional BGAN as the next generation mobile satcom service. This year, we are proudly presenting success stories from all over the region, that speak for themselves about how Regional BGAN changed, and in many cases dramatically enriched, people's lives.'