MTN ROAMS WITH IRIDIUM

23 2 1999

 MTN has concluded a satellite roaming deal with Washington-based international company, Iridium. This means that when the Iridium satellite network goes live, MTN subscribers will be the first in South Africa to able to roam globally with Iridium.

According to MTN’s CEO, Bob Chaphe, MTN has entered into this agreement with several objectives in mind. Satellite, he pointed out, is both a short- and long-term solution for Africa, where the distances, the sparsely populated rural and semi-urban areas and the general lack of infrastructure create significant telecommunication problems. "In the longer term, and 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, mining, agricultural and business potential of their countries."

James Rege, Iridium’s Government Affairs Director added, "South Africa has an important role to play in world affairs and the fact that it is one of the first African countries to enter the era of global mobile personal communication by satellite (GMPCS) is significant, because it not only confirms its status as a leader on the continent but also emphasises its growing importance in global terms."

Iridium LLC, acknowledged world leader in satellite telecommunications technology, boasts a global network which is unique in many aspects. Its 66 low-earth-orbiting (LEO) satellites are positioned only 780 kms above the earth. This means there are no frustrating delays in voice transmission which occur with systems that operate geostationary satellites (GEOs).

Iridium is also the first satellite network to offer a hand-held satellite phone.

Iridium satellites boast a "cross-link" feature which allows them to communicate with one another rather than having to reflect signals off strategically placed ground or earth stations. According to Richardson, this significantly reduces the number of earth stations necessary to set up a global satellite telecommunications system. Other LEO satellite networks currently require many more such earth stations before they can become fully functional on a global scale.

Dual-mode handsets will enable MTN subscribers to use their MTN SIM cards in the special satellite phones. These handsets have been designed with cross-protocol capability. Insertion of an appropriate cartridge enables them to be used on different digital and analogue systems such as GSM, AMPS, PDC and CDMA.