March/April 2005

Inmarsat's BGAN global wireless broadband service (m.logistics, issue 12) edged a significant step nearer with the successful launch in March of a new communications satellite - the first of a new-generation Inmarsat-4 range. It was launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida.

The company compares it in size to a double-decker bus. A better measure of its capability is probably the fact that it is 60 times more powerful than its predecessors, the Inmarsat-3 satellites, and has 20 times more capacity.

After testing, the satellite will be deployed in geostationary orbit, 36,000km above the Indian Ocean at 64 deg East. Its "footprint" will cover Europe, Africa, the Middle East, the Indian sub-continent, most of Asia Pacific and Western Australia.

It's all part of Inmarsat's plan to roll out its worldwide Broadband Global Area Network (BGAN), an IP and circuit-switched service that will offer voice telephony and a range of high-bandwidth services at speeds of up to 432kbit/s. These include Internet access, videoconferencing, local-area networking and other services.

 

A second series-4 satellite is due to be launched later this year.