PT Indosat to launch new satellite service
JAKARTA (JP): International telecommunications provider PT Indosat will launch a new service next January for international calls using International Maritime Satellite's (Inmarsat) services.
Indosat public relations manager J.B. Basuki said yesterday the new service, Inmarsat Mini-M, would be available through Inmarsat M systems.
"The Inmarsat Mini-M is designed for facsimile, data, voice communications and Internet," he said on the sidelines of a meeting on L-band Mobile Satellite Coordination at Indosat's Jakarta headquarters.
Inmarsat services are set for both voice and data telecommunications from any point on land, sea or in the air throughout the world. Inmarsat, operating its own telecommunications satellites, is a Britain-based international organization grouping 78 companies throughout the world, including Indosat which joined in 1987.
Indosat holds a 0.26 percent interest in Inmarsat. Indosat recovered 14 percent of its investment in Inmarsat in 1992, 18 percent in 1993 and 17 percent in 1994.
Indosat has its main earth station, including seven giant antennas, in Jatiluhur, Purwakarta, which was set up in 1967.
$3 a minute
Basuki said a portable terminal for Inmarsat Mini-M costed about Rp 15 million (US$6,355), while call charges for the system started at $3 a minute during peak times.
Besides the Inmarsat Mini-M, Indosat also serves the Inmarsat B, Inmarsat M, Inmarsat A and Inmarsat C systems. Indosat plans to set up a new ground satellite network in Gresik, East Java, to support the I-CO satellite-based telecommunications services of Inmarsat.
Yesterday's meeting aimed to coordinate the telecommunications operators planning to run L-band mobile satellites in geostationary orbit (GSO) over the Indian Ocean region.
GSO is an orbit above the equator at an altitude of about 36,000 kilometers. The number of commercial satellites in GSO covering the region is increasing.
Inmarsat executive Antonio Azzarelli told The Jakarta Post that 15 L-band mobile satellites run by six operators in GSO were covering the region.
"The spectrum of L-band is just 33 megahertz for the mobile satellites which work at 1.5 and 1.6 gigahertz," he said, adding that satellite positions in orbit were allocated and registered by the Swiss-based International Telecommunications Union.
He said interference may occur if there was no coordination among operators.
"The space will be more crowded as five more operators plan to operate L-band mobile satellites by 1999 or 2000," he said.
The operators now running L-band mobile satellites are Inmarsat (nine satellites), Italsat of Italy (one), European consortium ESA (one), Aussat of Australia (two satellites), MTSat of Japan (one) and Marafon of Russia (two).
Companies intending to launch similar satellites include ASC and East of Britain, Etilasat of the United Arab Emirates, the Indonesia-Philippines-Thai consortium ACeS and the China- Singapore consortium AMPT. (icn)