Trade.Information

Company Name: Inmarsat Global Ltd

Company Type: Global

Company Profile

Inmarsat plc, parent company of Inmarsat Global Ltd, is pursuing a business strategy designed to position it squarely at the convergence of information technology, telecoms and mobility while it continues to serve traditional maritime, aeronautical and land-mobile markets.

Inmarsat is also taking a leading role in the proposed Galileo global satellite navigation system, a project of the European Union and European Space Agency (ESA), scheduled to enter service in 2008.

Under an agreement signed by the eight European companies that form the Galileo concessionaire, or Galileo Operating Company (GOC), Inmarsat will have overall management leadership in the newly-formed Galileo Operations Company (OpCo), with responsibility for global network operations.

About Company

Inmarsat is the pioneer of global mobile satellite communications.

Today it stands at the forefront of 3G wireless telephony, capitalizing on almost a quarter of a century's experience to deliver broadband communications solutions to enterprise, maritime and aeronautical users around the globe.

Inmarsat operates a constellation of geostationary satellites that extend mobile phone, fax and data communications to every part of the world, except the poles.

End-users can dial into the international telephone network and send data over the Internet at any time, simply by connecting to an Inmarsat satellite.

They include shipowners and managers, TV broadcasters, international aid workers, national governments, commercial airlines, banks and other financial institutions, and many others.

Inmarsat-based services and solutions, including the mobile phones and other devices used to connect to its satellites, are sold by a network of hundreds of Inmarsat Partners in more than 80 countries around the world. Inmarsat is the wholesaler, the provider of the satellite airtime.

The satellites are controlled from Inmarsat's headquarters in London, which is also home to Inmarsat plc, Inmarsat's parent company, as well as a small intergovernmental organization (IGO), the International Mobile Satellite Organization (IMSO), created to supervise the company's public-service duties to support the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS) and satellite-aided air traffic control for the aviation community.

Inmarsat came into being as an IGO in 1979 to provide global safety and other communications for the maritime community. Starting with a customer base of 900 ships in the early 1980s, it then grew rapidly to offer similar services to other users on land and in the air, until in 1999 it became the first IGO to be transformed into a private company.

It now supports links for phone, fax and data communications to more than 287,000 ship, vehicle, aircraft and other mobile users.

The Inmarsat business strategy is to pursue a range of new data opportunities at the convergence of information technology, telecoms and mobility, while continuing to serve traditional maritime, aeronautical, land-mobile and remote-area markets.

A cornerstone of this strategy is the new Inmarsat I-4 satellites, which are now entering service. They form the backbone of Inmarsat's pioneering Broadband Global Area Network (BGAN) services, offering simultaneous phone and mobile data communications at up to 492kbps for internet access, mobile multimedia and many other advanced applications.