U.S. Coast Guard Evaluates Inmarsat Fleet F55

The U.S. Coast Guard is evaluating the Fleet F55 service provided by London-basedmobile satellite service company Inmarsat aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Shearwater. The evaluation follows beta testing and launch of the Fleet F55 service in April and forms part of the company’s 2003 maritime field evaluations (MFEs) program for the service.

As part of the evaluation with the U.S. Coast Guard, a Fleet F55 terminal provided by EMS Technologies [Nasdaq: ELMG] has been installed on the USCG Shearwater, an 87-foot Island Class coastal patrol vessel based out of Portsmouth, Va. Airtime provision for the evaluation is provided by Telenor Satellite Services.

Separately, Telenor Satellite Services announced the commercial availability of its newest service for the aviation industry, mobile packet data service (MPDS). Based on Inmarsat’s Swift64 technology, Telenor’s aeronautical MPDS offers cost-effective data communications capability via satellite, providing customers with another tool for conducting business in-flight. Telenor’s Swift MPDS offers the flexibility of mobile packet data service, giving aeronautical customers the benefit of paying only for the data they transmit and receive. MPDS is valuable for customers using global Internet applications, including Web access, file transfer, e-mail, and remote monitoring.