tcora@pica.army.mil (Tom Coradeschi) (03/07/91)
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.