spacetoday.net: Inmarsat signs deal with ACeS, to launch new satellite

Posted: Wed, Sep 6, 2006, 7:05 AM ET (1105 GMT)
Mobile satellite services operator Inmarsat announced this week that it had signed an agreement with an Asian company to effectively take over operations of that company's satellite phone system. Under the agreement with Asia Cellular Satellite (ACeS), Inmarsat will take over responsibility for satellite and network operations for ACes existing network and will transition it to Inmarsat's own satellites and receivers. ACeS currently uses a single satellite of its own, Garuda-1, which had suffered problems that has hindered its operations in recent years. Inmarsat also announced that it would launch the third satellite in the Inmarsat 4 series. Launching that spacecraft, which has already been built and is sitting in storage on the ground, will cost the company $130-150 million. The first two Inmarsat 4 spacecraft were launched last year; the third would allow the company to expand its high-speed data network worldwide.