The major Inmarsat service providers – France Telecom Mobile Satellite Telecommunications, Stratos Global Corp., Telenor Satellite Services and Xantic – announced separately Dec. 7 the commercial availability of Inmarsat’s Broadband Global Area Network (BGAN) service. The service is available to subscribers in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia, with coverage scheduled to expand into North and South America in the second quarter of 2006. BGAN offers data communications at speeds up to 492 kilobits per second and the ability to conduct voice and data communications simultaneously.