Defence company Thales is to distribute Inmarsat's Broadband Global Area Network service (BGAN).
While I was at 3GSM I noticed journalists struggling with the Wi-Fi network and fighting to get a seat in the room supplied with connected laptops.
It's at times like this that you need a flexible alternative, and as I walked through Hall 2 I spotted Inmarsat's BGAN offering, which I had been shown in Wales four years ago.
With BGAN you use a portable satellite terminals (cost from £257) connected to your laptop to link to the Inmarsat-4 satellite network to deliver connectivity. Connection is provided at speeds of up to 492kbps and it supports simultaneous voice calls and data connectivity.
The satellite terminal is fitted with a GPS receiver, to pinpoint its exact location. Using GPS, the terminal sends a message to the user’s laptop and then BGAN software on the laptop tells the user where to point the satellite terminal to get the best signal.
The downside is of course service costs: around $1 (60p) per minute for voice calls and $8 (£4.50) per megabyte of data.
Coverage is global, apart from the North and South poles.
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