MTN announced today that satellite roaming would become available to its subscribers as of April 30, 1999 - it is the first cellular network to offer this service in Africa.
The much-awaited satellite-roaming feature will enable reliable communications for industries such as mining, commercial fishing, governments, relief and environmental agencies, aeronautical and the media.
Bob Chaphe, MTN`s chief executive says that satellite is the next Generation in mobile communications. "Satellite roaming means that our subscribers will be able to roam anywhere on earth (where licence conditions permit), including remote areas such as oceans and deserts.
"Working with the concept of African Renaissance in mind, satellite communications can prove a viable solution for those countries where leaders are calling for foreign investment and privatisation to assist in building their economies and exploiting the vast industrial potential of their countries."
How does it work? MTN subscribers will roam on the Iridium Satellite Network. Iridium is the first operational low-earth orbit (LEO) satellite network on earth and has been designed to permit any type of telephone transmission - voice, data, fax or paging. The key benefit of satellite roaming is that people will become globally contactable using one telephone number and receiving one global bill. more.... Satellite 2 of 2 The Iridium system is unique in that it carries a `cross-link` feature; this allows the satellites to communicate with one another rather than having to reflect signals off strategically placed ground stations. The Iridium system reduces the number of earth stations needed to set up a global satellite telephony network.
Dual-mode (satellite and cellular) will enable subscribers to use their MTN SIM cards in the special satellite phones. These handsets have been designed with cross-protocol capability which enables the user to communicate off either network (satellite or cellular). If there is no coverage available on the cellular network, it will switch over to satellite. Insertion of an appropriate cartridge enables them to be used on different digital and analogue systems.
Johannes Haasbroek, an environmentalist / tour operator who operates from the Namib desert says that satellite telephony would make his job a lot easier. "As you can imagine, it`s rather difficult to communicate from the desert. I spend long periods, either alone or with a group, in the middle of nowhere - satellite communication would make life a lot easier, especially when contacting my office, clients or emergency services."
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