Path: utzoo!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!mips!spool.mu.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!bu.edu!telecom-request From: tcora@pica.army.mil (Tom Coradeschi) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Mobile Satellite Uplinks Message-ID: Date: 6 Mar 91 20:54:31 GMT Sender: news@bu.edu.bu.edu Organization: Electric Armaments Div, US Army Armament RDE Center Lines: 70 Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 11, Issue 184, Message 2 of 11 From {Network World}, 4 Mar 91. New mobile satellite phones shine in war. Systems keep journalists, others in touch during Gulf conflict; success may boost commercial use. By Barton Crocken Senior Editor GAITHERSBURG, Md. The war to liberate Kuwait is giving a big boost to a new international networking technology - portable satellite-based telephones. The Persian Gulf conflict has stimulated one of the largest portable satellite telephone deployments to date and could spur commercial demand for the technology by illustrating how easily and quickly the phones can establish international network links. News organizations such as the Associated Press, Cable News Network (CNN), CBS News, Knight-Ridder, Inc. and The Wall Street Journal are using dozens of these systems to transmit stories from areas where traditional telephone service either has been knocked out or has never existed. The systems typically consist of a collapsible antenna and telephone set that can be folded into a briefcase weighing as little as 65 pounds. "We were live out of Kuwait at 2 a.m. [the day after the allies launched the land invasion] using two of these systems," said Frank Governale, director of bureau operations for CBS News. Governale said CBS News has purchased and leased a total of six new portable satellite telephones since the crisis began, in addition to the two it already had. Mobile Telesystems, Inc., which manufactured about 80% of the more than 2,000 portable satellite telephones now deployed in the world, has seen orders increase about 50% since the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, according to Rania Habbaba, the company's marketing manager. Jon Klein, vice-president at IDB Aero-Nautical Communications, Inc., based here, which supplies transmission services for portable satellite telephones, said the Gulf War represents one of the largest deployments ever of mobile satellite telephone systems. He added that the crisis could give a big boost to the mobile satellite phone industry by illustrating how easy the systems are to use. Testimonial to success The ability of reporters such as CNN's Peter Arnett to easily use portable satellite telephones, called satcoms, to file stories will encourage more people to purchase them, Klein said. He added that the satcom business will grow even more after the International Maritime Satellite Organization (INMARSAT) launches a new satellite telephone service in 1992, dubbed INMARSAT-M. INMARSAT-M will use powerful new satellites that will enable earth station makers to further reduce the size of mobile satcom units. This will make mobile satellite telephones even easier to use, which will help the entire industry, Klein said. INMARSAT satellites support the bulk of the world's mobile satellite telephone service. Typically, satcom signals are beamed from mobile earth stations to INMARSAT satellites. The satellites then bounce the signals down to fixed earth stations, which relay transmissions into the public network.