[LINK] Europe to get new broadband satellite(s)

[Tom Worthington]

Marghanita da Cruz wrote:
> I heard the replay (ABC 24 sunday nights), I thought it was 
> Anabel Crab who mentioned the satellite in Hong Kong and the 
> fact that Hong Kong was miniscule ...

Hong Kong has the 4th highest population density for a 
country/autonomous province, with 6,480 people per square kilometre. But 
it does cover 1,104 km2 and has some empty bits, where a satellite would 
be handy: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hong_Kong>.


Marghanita da Cruz wrote:

 > ... Anyone know where Iridium is at?

Between Osmium and Platinum on the Periodic Table. ;-)

The Iridium satellite company is still in business:
<http://www.iridium.com/>.

Iridium were propped up by the U.S. Department of Defense, who found it
a handy supplement for their own satellites.

Iridium's current service is not relevant to the NBN as it was
designed for voice and low speed data.

Iridium has found a niche in reporting on movement of trucks and the
like: <http://www.iridium.com/products/Iridium9602.aspx>.
They are planning to launch higher capacity satellites in 2015:
<http://www.iridium.com/About/IridiumNEXT.aspx>.

Telstra resell Iridium, with a government subsidy, for remote areas of 
Australia:
<http://www.telstra.com.au/mobile/networks/network_info/satellite.cfm>

Optus resell the Thuraya satellite phone service in Australia, also
under the Satellite Phone Subsidy Scheme, for remote areas:
<http://personal.optus.com.au/web/ocaportal.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=Template_wRHS&FP=/personal/mobile/mobilesatellite/optusthurayaserviceandsatelliteplans>.

Inmarsat also offer mobile satellite phone services:
<http://www.satellitephonesales.com.au/products/Satellite-Phone/Inmarsat-IsatPhone-Pro>

Many of the satellite handsets double as a GSM phone for use in urban areas.


-- 
Tom Worthington FACS CP HLM, TomW Communications Pty Ltd. t: 0419496150
PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617, Australia  http://www.tomw.net.au
Adjunct Senior Lecturer, School of Computer Science, The
Australian National University http://cs.anu.edu.au/courses/COMP7310/
Visiting Scientist, CSIRO ICT Centre: http://bit.ly/csiro_ict_canberra