Thuraya expands its GSM roaming coverage across Americas

A subsidiary of América Móvil, Claro is the leading provider of telecommunications services in Latin America, operating in 18 countries across the Americas. Telefónica operates across 14 countries in Latin America and manages, through its Movistar and Vivo, commercial brands, more than 30% of the region's telecommunications market.

Thuraya's partners will provide GSM roaming for voice and data services to Thuraya users in Alaska, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands and Uruguay. The roaming service, which commenced on April 12, 2013, allows Thuraya subscribers to roam seamlessly on the Claro and Telefónica networks. Thuraya users can insert their Thuraya SIM card in any GSM or smartphone to access Claro or Telefonica's networks. In return, Claro and Telefónica subscribers will shortly be able to roam across Thuraya's satellite network when using a Thuraya satellite handset.

With these new roaming agreements in place, Thuraya now provides truly global coverage for its customers with its wide satellite coverage and in over 161 countries across 356 GSM networks throughout Africa, Asia, Australia, Canada, Europe, Latin America and North America.

T. Sanford Jewett, Vice President of Marketing at Thuraya, said, "We are pleased to be working with our partners to provide our users with expanded coverage across the Americas. Thuraya is the only mobile satellite service provider that offers roaming services with terrestrial wireless networks. With the expansion of our GSM coverage to the Americas, Thuraya subscribers have the freedom to choose between satellite and GSM coverage around the globe."