France Telecom‘s [NYSE: FTE] Mobile Satellite Communications unit is extending the range of mobile satellite services by teaming up with Thuraya Satellite Telecommunications, a handheld satellite telephone service based in the Middle East. France Telecom Mobile Satellite subsidiaries TDCom in France and GloCall in the Netherlands achieved combined market share of 22 percent from marketing Thuraya for a year. That success prompted the unit to offer Thuraya to major clients in France and to its international distributor network.

Thuraya is the only mobile satellite service capable of providing voice, messaging, SMS and e-mail from a mobile phone the size of a GSM phone, France Telecom officials said. The price of service is 75 cents a minute, plus applicable taxes.