The company has created an additional region -- Indian Ocean Region West -- within its global area network (GAN) that provides mobile ISDN services.
The media is expected to be a major user of the service. Videophones linked by Inmarsat's 64 Kbps ISDN service were used extensively to report from Afghanistan, and according to a Inmarsat spokesperson the UK Ministry of Defence alone has accredited 700 media representatives for Iraq. Other major users of the GAN include government and aid agencies.
The satellite tasking change leaves Inmarsat with four in-orbit spares.
"We are confident that we can meet the growing demand for our services in this region by the world media and aid agencies," said managing director Michael Butler.
To the public, satellite phones may be almost synonymous with voice traffic, but data now represents 54 percent of the company's revenue from on-demand services.
Last November, Inmarsat launched its Regional Broadband Global Area Network (Regional BGAN) service with a footprint covering 99 countries in Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent. Initially providing 144 Kbps IP Internet connectivity, the service offers better performance and coverage than terrestrial GPRS. Regional BGAN uses a satellite modem roughly the size, shape and weight (1.6kg) of a small notebook PC.
When the Inmarsat-4 satellites are launched in 2005, Regional BGAN speeds will increase to 432 Kbps.
