July 18, 2007
We have been officially advised by Inmarsat they will discontinue their RBGAN service effective 31 December 2008.
The current RBGAN service will be superseded by the new Inmarsat BGAN service, which is now operational. This change is being made exclusively by Inmarsat, owner and operator of the satellites, to maximize the capabilities of their $1.6 billion investment in the new Inmarsat 4 satellites. BGAN is more efficient, allows for many more simultaneous users, and offers additional capabilities not available with RBGAN. Inmarsat has no plans to replace BGAN during the estimated 15-20 years life expectancy of the Inmarsat 4 satellites.
BGAN utilizes the new Inmarsat 4 satellites which are now in orbit over the Indian and Atlantic Oceans and are the same satellites providing RBGAN service. BGAN coverage currently includes Africa, Europe, Central America, most of North America, South America, and most of Asia. Coverage will be expanded next year with the launch of the third Inmarsat 4 satellite to include the Pacific rim area and the remainder of Asia. This satellite has been completed and is in storage awaiting launch.
BGAN is a step forward in technology allowing for additional capabilities not available with RBGAN. Its advantages include voice at a very reasonable cost (with the addition of a telephone device), the capability to send SMS (Short Message Service) messages to cell phones, and faster data rates.
For additional information regarding BGAN, please visit our BGAN Products webpage .
Apr 1, 2006
Inmarsat will be activating the Inmarsat 4-F2 satellite 1 April 2006 to provide RBGAN service to Western Africa. Countries in Western Africa that could not use RBGAN service as a result of the switch to the Inmarsat 4-F1 satellite last July will now again have service. In addition, users in Western Africa within the footprint of the Inmarsat 4-F2 satellite will have the capability to select which satellite they wish to use. The Launch Pad software (version 3.15.0) provides heading and elevation information that can be used to locate both satellites.
Inmarsat also announced they will begin offering RBGAN service to South America effective 17 April 2006. It is important to note that RBGAN service will not currently be provided to users in Canada, USA, Mexico, Belize, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama, or the Caribbean.
Nov 8, 2005
The launch of Inmarsat's second I-4 satellite took place on board a Sea Launch Zenit rocket from the Pacific Ocean at 14:07 UTC (GMT) on November 8.
The size of a London double-decker bus and weighing nearly six tons, once in operation the Inmarsat-4 (I-4) spacecraft will deliver simultaneous voice and 3G-compatible broadband data services to mobile users across North, Central and South America.
"The successful launch of the second I-4 satellite means that Inmarsat now has the world's most sophisticated commercial network for mobile voice and data services," said Andrew Sukawaty, CEO and chairman of Inmarsat.
"It will support an unprecedented evolution of our services - more than doubling the bandwidth available to our mobile users. It marks the beginning of a new era for Inmarsat, in which we expect to roll out a new range of global mobile services to government, aid, and enterprise users."
The satellite will now begin deployment and testing, with a number of key milestones ahead before being fully-deployed in geostationary orbit, 35,786 kilometres (22,237 miles) above the Equator, over northern Brazil.
The first Inmarsat-4 was launched in March 2005 and is already in commercial service above the Indian Ocean at 64šE. Together, the two I-4 satellites will be able to deliver Inmarsat's new Broadband Global Area Network (BGAN) service to 85 per cent of the world's landmass.
BGAN is an IP and circuit-switched service that will offer voice telephony and a sophisticated range of high-bandwidth services, including internet access, videoconferencing, LAN and other data services, at speeds up to half a megabit per second.
Inmarsat's I-4 satellites are built by EADS Astrium and are part of an eight-year, US$1.5 billion development of Inmarsat's next-generation satellite network. They are 60 times more powerful and have 20 times more capacity than their predecessors, the Inmarsat-3 satellites.