Ian Sheppard/GRONINGEN
NETHERLANDS Land-Earth Station (LES) operator Station 12, which holds 15% of the Inmarsat mobile-telecommunications market, has indicated that it may be interested in providing a satellite-communications service for airborne receivers.
Paul Frank, Station 12 head of business development, says that the company is considering the market "in the future", but still views it as a niche market. Inmarsat, which recently signed up Hungary as its 81st member, provides its Aero services separately from land-mobile and maritime services as aircraft require omnidirectional antennas and specific signal "codecs".
In the interim, Station 12 has developed a service which uses the new Inmarsat-m reduced-rate codec, known as "Mini M". The Altus allows global telephone and facsimile services via a $3,000 laptop-sized terminal. The company claims that the service is ideal for airlines and other organisations with bases or equipment in remote locations, or where terrestrial communications are substandard.
Source: Flight International
