COMSAT Mobile Communications (CMC) is a telecommunications company which provides global mobile communications solutions to the maritime, land mobile and aeronautical communities, and offers data, voice, fax, telex and video capabilities via the Inmarsat geosynchronous satellite constellation through two earth station facilities in Southbury, Connecticut, and Santa Paula, California. CMC was a business unit of COMSAT Corporation of Bethesda, MD (NYSE: CQ) (delisted).
In concert with COMSAT General Corporation's (another business unit of COMSAT Corp) MARISAT system, CMC sparked a revolution in medium- and long-distance maritime ship-to-shore communication, augmenting and eventually replacing cumbersome and technically challenging high-power radiotelegraph and radiotelephone equipment with solid state, user-friendly satellite terminals which required relatively minimal training to use in voice, fax, and telex modes that were impervious to normal radio propagation conditions and unaffected by distance, although initial rates were high ($10 per minute for voice/fax to/from the USA).
History
Acquired by Lockheed Martin Global Telecommunications (LGMT) (a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin) as part of an August 2000 merger with its parent COMSAT Corporation, the COMSAT Mobile Communications unit was purchased from LGMT by Telenor of Norway on 11 January 2002.
International Mobile Satellite Organization (IMSO) is the oversight body of the satellite communications elements of the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS) established by the IMO designed to provide a worldwide system for automated emergency signal communication for ships at sea. IMSO ensures that the provision of maritime mobile satellite communications services (currently provided by Inmarsat Ltd and Iridium Ltd).
Telenor ASA is a Norwegian majority state-owned multinational telecommunications company headquartered at Fornebu in Bærum, close to Oslo. It is one of the world's largest mobile telecommunications companies with operations worldwide, but focused in Scandinavia and Asia. It has extensive broadband and TV distribution operations in four Nordic countries, and a 10-year-old research and business line for machine-to-machine technology. Telenor owns networks in 8 countries.
MCI Communications Corp. was a telecommunications company headquartered in Washington, D.C. that was at one point the second-largest long-distance provider in the United States.
The Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS) is a worldwide system for automated emergency signal communication for ships at sea developed by the United Nations' International Maritime Organization (IMO) as part of the SOLAS Convention.
A satellite telephone, satellite phone or satphone is a type of mobile phone that connects to other phones or the telephone network by radio link through satellites orbiting the Earth instead of terrestrial cell sites, as cellphones do. Therefore, they can work in most geographic locations on the Earth's surface, as long as open sky and the line-of-sight between the phone and the satellite are provided. Depending on the architecture of a particular system, coverage may include the entire Earth or only specific regions. Satellite phones provide similar functionality to terrestrial mobile telephones; voice calling, text messaging, and low-bandwidth Internet access are supported through most systems. The advantage of a satphone is that it can be used in such regions where local terrestrial communication infrastructures, such as landline and cellular networks, are not available.
A Maritime Mobile Service Identity (MMSI) is effectively a maritime object's international maritime telephone number, a temporarily assigned UID, issued by that object's current flag state.
The Overseas Telecommunications Commission (OTC) was established by Australia in August 1946. It inherited facilities and resources from Amalgamated Wireless Australasia (AWA) and Cable & Wireless, and was charged with responsibility for all international telecommunications services into, through and out of Australia. In effect, all overseas telecommunications was nationalized. Australia was adopting a Commonwealth-wide policy that had been adopted at the Commonwealth conference in 1945. The main goal was to end the artificial routing of traffic to cable or wireless depending on private financial profits.
COMSAT is a global telecommunications company based in the United States.
Inmarsat-C is a two-way, packet data service operated by the telecommunications company Inmarsat which operates between mobile earth stations (MES) and land earth stations (LES). It became fully operational after a period of pre-operational trials in January 1991. The advantages of Inmarsat-C compared to Inmarsat-A are low cost, smaller and uses a smaller omni-directional antenna. The disadvantage is that voice communication is not possible with Inmarsat-C. The service is approved for use under the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS), meets the requirements for Ship Security Alert Systems (SSAS) defined by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and is the most widely used service in fishing Vessel Monitoring Systems (VMS).
Comsat(s) may refer to:
Inmarsat is a British satellite telecommunications company, offering global mobile services. It provides telephone and data services to users worldwide, via portable or mobile terminals which communicate with ground stations through fourteen geostationary telecommunications satellites.
Telenor Kystradio is a part of Telenor and provides maritime telecommunication services along the coast of Norway, operating networks of marine VHF radio, medium frequency, high frequency and Navtex transmitters. As of January 2018 there are two coastal radio stations in Norway, Kystradio nord and Kystradio sør. The agency also issues marine radio licenses for both commercial- and pleasure ships, including callsigns and Maritime Mobile Service Identities, as well as radio operator certificates. Telenor Kystradio head office is based at Telenor Norway's head office at Fornebu. Telenor Kystradio also performs GMDSS Radio inspections, and are approved by the Norwegian Maritime Authority as well as most mayor classification authorities. The Radioinspeksjonen is located in Oslo, Stavanger, Bergen, Ålesund, Sandnessjøen, Bodø, Lofoten and Troms.
Stratos Global Corporation was a Canada-based telecommunications company founded in 1985, mainly serving maritime, government and oil and gas markets around the world. It was acquired by Inmarsat in 2009.
Samoa Technologies is a privately held diversified telecommunications, broadcasting and media, consulting, and aircraft leasing company located in the South Pacific and based in Pago Pago, American Samoa. STI operates a Satellite Earth Station in American Samoa which provides 24/7 linkage to/from the outside world for voice, data and video; radio broadcasting station KSBS-FM; and mobile communications in American Samoa.
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Robert D. Briskman is Technical Executive of Sirius XM Radio.
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