July/Aug 2004

Worldwide mobile Internet access at speeds of up to 432kbit/s - similar to fixed-line broadband - is coming closer as the launch approaches of Inmarsat's BGAN (Broadband Global Area Network).

The new service is due for launch next year, and the organisation says it will deliver a whole range of Internet and intranet services including content and solutions, video-on-demand, videoconferencing, fax, e-mail, phone and LAN access.

Just under two years ago the satellite communications giant launched a service called Regional BGAN, which offers some of the advantages of the full BGAN service in about 100 counties spread over a wide area of Europe, North Africa and Asia. This operates at twice the speed of GPRS wireless data networks (144kbits/sec).

The full BGAN service will take advantage of four new-generation Inmarsat satellites, the I-4 range, currently in build in the UK and France. It will triple communications speeds and extend coverage more or less worldwide.

 

Like the existing service, the new one will be offered via various distribution partners. The latest to be announced is Telenor Satellite Services, a subsidiary of Telenor of Norway, which has been named as a prospective launch distributor.

Pricing of the new service is not yet known. Modems for the existing regional service are not cheap, costing "about the same as a notebook PC", according to Inmarsat, but it says transmissions are priced in line with GPRS roaming tariffs.