Inmarsat, JSAT MOBILE and NTT DOCOMO join forces to launch IsatPhone Pro in Japan

SINGAPORE/LONDON – 26 July 2012 – Inmarsat (LSE:ISAT.L), the leading provider of global mobile satellite communications services, today announced the launch of its award-winning global satellite handheld IsatPhone Pro™ in Japan. The trusted IsatPhone Pro will be available to Japanese users from the beginning of August 2012.

Japan’s largest mobile carrier NTT DOCOMO, Inc. will deliver IsatPhone Pro to the Japanese market in partnership with JSAT MOBILE Communications Inc., a joint venture between Inmarsat and SKY Perfect JSAT Corporation which is Asia-Pacific’s largest satellite operator and is also Japan’s largest DTH broadcasting platform operator, SKY PerfecTV!

Inmarsat’s IsatPhone Pro offers the ultimate combination of global coverage on the world’s most reliable satellite network, a robust handset, and the longest battery life available in the market, with eight hours of talk time and up to a hundred hours of standby time.

In addition to essential satellite telephony, data, text and email messaging, IsatPhone Pro provides GPS location and social media services. IsatPhone Pro users can send their GPS location, and access Twitter from anywhere in the world using the handset’s short messaging service (SMS) function.

Eiichi Yoda, President and Chief Executive Officer, JSAT MOBILE said: “The interest in satellite phones for business continuity and disaster recovery has greatly increased after the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 2011. It is our pleasure to respond to customer demand by introducing Inmarsat’s IsatPhone Pro in Japan. We feel that this will be a very significant opportunity.”

The introduction of IsatPhone Pro addresses the growing demand among Japanese customers for an easy-to-use handheld satellite phone. The service complements NTT DOCOMO’s existing mobile satellite services portfolio, centred on Widestar and Widestar II.

Commenting on the announcement, Lizzie Greenwood, Asia-Pacific Director, Global Government, at Inmarsat said: “We are excited to partner with such a world-leader as NTT DOCOMO to launch IsatPhone Pro in Japan. This is a key market for Inmarsat and launching IsatPhone Pro here is an important milestone for us.”

IsatPhone Pro is poised to be a major enhancement to solutions for disaster preparedness, aid mobilisation, and other mission-critical communications requirements. “Mobile satellite communications provide vital back-up and lifeline connectivity. In times of emergency or when terrestrial communications are down, satcom services could help save lives and significantly mitigate the impact of natural catastrophes on business continuity,” she continued.

Global mobile broadband subscribers up 84% to 186m but downturn

Mobile broadband booming but downturn will help delay LTE takeoff to 2013

Released: 19th March 2009
The mobile broadband market exploded in the last year, driving majorincreases in mobile operator data subscribers and revenues, and will play anincreasingly central role in the success of the mobile industry, accordingto Future Mobile Broadband: HSPA and EV-DO to LTE Networks, Devices andServices, a new strategic report from Informa Telecoms & Media.

“Mobile broadband has become one of the key growth engines for the mobileindustry, with 186 million mobile broadband subscribers worldwide at the endof 2008, up 84% from 101 million at end-2007,” says Mike Roberts, PrincipalAnalyst at Informa Telecoms & Media and lead author of the Future MobileBroadband report. “By 2013 mobile broadband subscribers will representalmost one-third of total mobile subscribers worldwide.”

The mobile broadband boom was triggered by the combination of widespreadmobile broadband network coverage, appealing devices such as USB modems andthe iPhone 3G, and competitive flat-rate tariffs. “Flat-rate mobilebroadband services with widespread coverage and new devices such as USBmodems and the iPhone 3G are a runaway success, and have made mobilebroadband one of the most significant strategic and commercial opportunitiesin the converging mobile and broadband markets,” Roberts says.

Future Mobile Broadband finds that at the end of 2008 there were more than400 commercial mobile broadband networks worldwide supporting thousands ofdifferent mobile and portable devices and generating billions of dollars inoperator revenues. “For many mobile operators, mobile broadband is drivingsustained increases in data ARPU. That in turn is key to increasing overallrevenues, given ongoing declines in voice ARPU.”

The mobile broadband markets in the US, Japan and Korea saw phenomenalgrowth in 2008, which led the three markets combined to account for themajority of global mobile broadband subscribers by the end of the year.“The US, Japan and Korea dominated the global market in 2008, but this ischanging fast as mobile broadband becomes a mass-market service worldwide,”Roberts says.

For example, all the pieces are falling into place for China Mobile’sTD-SCDMA mobile broadband service to gain traction by 2010, and thattogether with new HSPA, EV-DO and TD-LTE services will drive the country tobecome the second-largest mobile broadband market worldwide in 2013,according to Future Mobile Broadband forecasts. India will be thefourth-largest market in 2013, following BSNL’s launch of EV-DO mobilebroadband services in 2008 and BSNL’s and MTNL’s expected launch of HSDPAservices in late 2009.

However, mobile broadband will not be immune from the economic downturn,which will pile the pressure on beleaguered equipment vendors and force someoperators to scale back or delay major investments, particularly innext-generation systems such as LTE.

“There’s no doubt that the downturn will delay LTE deployments, with majoroperators already citing it as a key factor leading them to push LTE launchdates to 2011-12,” Roberts says. “Major operators such as Verizon Wirelessand NTT DoCoMo are still committed to launching LTE in 2010, but the economywill still be tough then, which could hit rollout schedules and takeup. Manyoperators are also realizing that HSPA and HSPA+ upgrades should meet theirneeds for the next few years, and will cost a lot less than LTE rollouts.The net result is that the LTE subscribers will not start taking off until2013.”

However, the overall outlook for the mobile broadband market is good.“Mobile broadband is already a must-have service for many consumers andbusinesses, which helps to explain why it will be one of the strongestmobile segments throughout the downturn,” Roberts says. “We’ve fullyrevised all our forecasts in light of the economic downturn, but we’restill expecting strong growth through 2013 in mobile broadband subscribers,device unit sales and operator data revenues.”

Mobile data revenues to exceed US$200 billion in 2008

Released: 23rd July 2008. Revenues from mobile data services are set to exceed US$200 billion this year for the first time, according to data sourced from Informa Telecoms & Media's latest World Cellular Data Metrics edition, which has just been published. Total mobile data revenues were approximately US$157 billion in 2007.

Research from the first quarter of 2008 reveals that mobile data service revenues exceeded US$49 billion, accounting for a 42.7% y-o-y increase. This figure means that mobile operators now generate approximately one fifth of their revenue from data services; this is significant given that a general slowdown in voice revenues is forcing the pace around the importance of data services for mobile operators. Informa Telecoms & Media estimates that non-SMS data contributed US$17.48 billion of revenue in Q108, accounting for 35.6% of total data revenues.

"Growth drivers for the increase in data revenues include the acceleration in deployment of advanced technologies, an increasingly competitive market, and of course, growing consumer demand for mobile data services driven by popular data-optimised devices such as Apple's iPhone", says Informa Principal Analyst, Nick Jotischky.

The Asia Pacific region comprises 40% of the world's data revenues (over US$20 billion in Q108), representing an above average y-o-y growth rate of 48%. The biggest regional riser, however, is the Middle East, which despite contributing just 2% of the world's data revenues in the first quarter of 2008, has seen a 91.7% y-o-y increase in this figure to US$927 million. Aiding this acceleration is the 321% y-o-y rise in the number of HSPA subscribers in the region, which reached 2.9 million by the end of March 2008.

Further next-generation deployment should also ensure rapid growth in Africa and the Americas, which accounted for just 2% and 5% of global data revenues at the end of Q1 2008. With the increased deployment of fixed wireless telephony, the popularity of EV-DO datacards continues to spread across Africa, now available in 18 markets. Similarly, in Latin America, operators are hopeful for increases in data revenues from WCDMA and HSDPA launches.

According to Informa Telecoms & Media's World Cellular Data Metrics, the operator to generate the highest non-voice revenues in the quarter is Japan's NTT DoCoMo (US$3.6 billion), having overtaken China Mobile (US$3.5 billion), which had been the largest generator of data revenues for the previous three quarters.

In terms of data as a percentage of overall revenue, Filipino mobile operator Smart Communications is the world's market leader and the only carrier to depend on non-voice revenues for more than 50% of its income, such is the high level of SMS usage in the country.

Mobile leaders to unify the Symbian software platform and set the future of mobile free

Foundation to be established to provide royalty-free open platform and accelerate innovation

LONDON, UK; June 24, 2008 -- Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola and NTT DOCOMO announced today their intent to unite Symbian OS™, S60, UIQ and MOAP(S) to create one open mobile software platform. Together with AT&T, LG Electronics, Samsung Electronics, STMicroelectronics, Texas Instruments and Vodafone they plan to establish the Symbian Foundation to extend the appeal of this unified software platform. Membership of this non-profit foundation will be open to all organizations. This initiative is supported by current shareholders and management of Symbian Limited, who have been actively involved in its development. Plans for the foundation have already received wide support from other industry leaders.

To enable the foundation, Nokia today announced plans to acquire the remaining shares of Symbian Limited that Nokia does not already own and then contribute the Symbian and S60 software to the foundation. Sony Ericsson and Motorola today announced their intention to contribute technology from UIQ and DOCOMO has also indicated its willingness to contribute its MOAP(S) assets. From these contributions, the foundation will provide a unified platform with common UI framework. A full platform will be available for all foundation members under a royalty-free license, from the foundation’s first day of operations.

Contributions from foundation members through open collaboration will be integrated to further enhance the platform. The foundation will make selected components available as open source at launch. It will then work to establish the most complete mobile software offering available in open source. This will be made available over the next two years and is intended to be released under Eclipse Public License (EPL) 1.0.

The foundation’s platform will build on the leading open mobile software platform, with more than 200 million phones, across 235 models, already shipped by multiple vendors and tens of thousands of third-party applications already available for Symbian OS-based devices.

“Ten years ago, Symbian was established by far sighted players to offer an advanced open operating system and software skills to the whole mobile industry”, said Nigel Clifford, CEO of Symbian. “Our vision is to become the most widely used software platform on the planet and indeed today Symbian OS leads its market by any measure. Today's announcement is a bold new step to achieve that vision by embracing a complete and proven platform, offered in an open way, designed to stimulate innovation which is at the heart of everything we do.”

”Establishing the foundation is one of the biggest contributions to an open community ever made,” said Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, CEO of Nokia. “Nokia is a strong supporter of open platforms and technologies as they give the freedom to build, maintain and evolve applications and services across device segments and offer by far the largest ecosystem, enabling rapid innovation. Today’s announcement is a major milestone in our devices software strategy.”

“The complete, consistent platform that the foundation plans to provide will allow manufacturers to focus on their unique differentiation at a device level” said Dick Komiyama, President of Sony Ericsson. “Sony Ericsson believes that the unified Symbian Foundation platform will greatly simplify the world for handset manufacturers, operators and developers, enabling greater innovation in services and applications to the benefit of consumers everywhere.“

"Motorola has long been a leader and advocate of open software for mobile platforms. We’re excited to be joining Nokia, Sony Ericsson, NTT DOCOMO and others in leading this open source effort to form the new Symbian Foundation and unite the Symbian ecosystem," said Alain Mutricy, Senior Vice President, Platforms & Technology Office, Motorola Mobile Devices. “Also, Motorola, together with Sony Ericsson, will be contributing UIQ technology to the foundation and will work with UIQ as they are refocusing as an important supplier in the new Symbian ecosystem. This will be a great addition, as the foundation will be able to leverage UIQ’s unique experience, which includes expertise in touch technology.”

“DOCOMO welcomes this development and we look forward to moving our Symbian based devices and service onto the foundation platform. We are also willing to contribute our MOAP(S) assets to the foundation. This is a very positive step in further increasing the adoption of the Symbian software and creating an even more open, consistent and complete platform. The foundation software will enable us to enjoy the benefits of a global platform in bringing new, leading-edge services to the Japanese market. It will increase efficiency and help us provide our wide customer base with the most advanced mobile experiences.” said Toshio Miki, Associate Senior Vice President, Managing Director of Communication Device Development Department of NTT DOCOMO.

"Mobile phones have turned into sophisticated multimedia computers and smart phones continue to grow in popularity," said Kris Rinne, Senior Vice President of Architecture and Planning at AT&T. "The Symbian Foundation will reduce fragmentation in the industry and holds the promise of incorporating leading technology and the most mature software into a unified platform for the entire industry. This will create an environment that will encourage and enable developers to build compelling applications that will positively affect our customers' lives and support AT&T in offering its differentiated services to consumers."

"Joining the Symbian Foundation is an ideal opportunity for LG to broaden our commitment to providing our customers with the best possible mobile experience” said Dr. Skott Ahn, President and CEO of LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company. “We believe that open mobile platforms will contribute to advance the mobile industry. At LG we will play a leading role in creating a better mobile environment, working with the Symbian Foundation to provide our customers with smart new features based on this open platform.”

“Samsung Electronics is committed to Symbian as one of the future platforms for our mobile devices and believes that establishing the foundation is a visionary move in positioning the platform as the most proven open platform for future development. We are delighted to be playing a significant role in that future by joining the foundation board. We have already used Symbian and S60 software successfully to deliver appealing devices and see these steps making the platform even more attractive for bringing the latest technologies and services to the market” said Dr. Do Hun Kwon, VP & Managing Director, Samsung Electronics Research Institute.

"ST sees strong consumer demand, across all segments, for a richer multimedia experience," said Monica de Virgiliis, General Manager of the Wireless Multimedia Division, STMicroelectronics. "This new foundation synchronises and harmonises the mainstream software approach to address this need and makes the software widely available. We anticipate this will fuel the growth of multimedia-capable devices and we are excited about being able to leverage our long-standing leadership in consumer digital multimedia to satisfy more and more consumers."

“TI has long supported open platforms, and we are excited about the formation of the Symbian Foundation. We believe the new structure will remove barriers to innovation in the mobile industry by providing a common platform on which exciting next-generation applications and services can be built,” said Greg Delagi, senior vice president of TI’s Wireless Business Unit. “Manufacturers can get a head-start on development with TI’s proven OMAP-based Symbian S60 software development platform. Combined with the foundation’s open collaboration model, this will allow more developers to harness the performance and multimedia capabilities of the OMAP family to accelerate improvements in the mobile user experience.”

“Vodafone believes this is a significant step in driving mobile innovation for the Internet as well as creating a richer mobile experience for our customers” said Jens Schulte-Bockum, Vodafone's Global Director of Terminals. “We have been challenging the industry to reduce complexity and focus on fewer operating systems. This step will help to drive even faster innovation, as well as enable operators to accelerate time-to-market for compelling and varied new services.”

Foundation members share the vision that the foundation will unify the software platform, supercharge innovation and accelerate the availability of new services and compelling experiences for consumers and business users around the world. The combined platform is already one of the most advanced and widely used mobile platforms, making it highly attractive for all ecosystem partners, including developers, mobile operators, content and service providers and device manufacturers.

The foundation is expected to start operating during the first half of 2009, subject to the closing of the acquisition of Symbian Ltd by Nokia.

Chunghwa Telecom Chooses Adobe Flash Technology for New Channel Me Data Service

KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA –May 21, 2008 -Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) and Chunghwa® Telecom (TAIEX 2412, NYSE: CHT) announced that Chunghwa Telecom has launched its new Channel Me service, powered by Adobe® Flash® Cast™ software, to deliver engaging multimedia information and entertainment services. Subscribers will receive personalized and automatically updated information virtually anytime and anywhere via their mobile device.

As the largest mobile operator in Taiwan, Chunghwa Telecom joins pioneering operators such as Verizon Wireless and NTT DoCoMo, who license Adobe Flash Cast to differentiate their brands in the mobile marketplace and generate new revenue streams by migrating customers to enhanced data service plans.

Adobe Flash Cast enables mobile operators and other service providers to deliver personalized intuitive data services through branded mobile channels created using Adobe Flash® technology. Starting immediately, Channel Me subscribers will have access to five standard channels, including News, Weather and Horoscopes, Entertainment and Sports, Food, and Life.

By the end of Q3 2008, a set of premium channels with content from leading media brands (including movie ticketing and music) is expected to be available.

With an intuitive user interface and automatically updated content, the immersive multimedia experience will enable Chunghwa Telecom to set a new standard for mobile data services in Taiwan.

“As the largest operator in Taiwan, Chunghwa Telecom is the thought leader for delivering next generation wireless services to our customers,” said Shyue-Ching Lu, president, Chunghwa Telecom.

“Adobe Flash technology is key to Chungwha’s strategy to lead the industry with innovative services and to unite the mobile ecosystem in Taiwan around our network, so we can meet the growing demand for our applications to scale across multiple screens.”

“Chunghwa Telecom will be the first operator in Taiwan to provide services based on Flash Cast technology,” said Gary Kovacs, general manager and vice president, Mobile and Devices at Adobe. “We continue to see growth in personalized data services around the world, and are excited to work with operators like Chunghwa Telecom to help them scale their mobile service offering and bring rich and unique mobile experiences to their subscribers.”

Adobe mobile solutions enable service providers, device OEMs, and content providers to deliver more engaging mobile experiences across devices and operating systems by leveraging the Flash ecosystem, which includes the Adobe Flash authoring tool, Adobe Flash Lite™ software and an established community of more than one million designers and developers.

Flash Cast is already a great success in Japan. Today, more than 15 million customers subscribe to NTT DoCoMo’s data services, which offer more than 80 channels since its launch three years ago.

Pricing and Availability
Channel Me is available immediately via a simplified subscription fee and initially supported by more than twenty mobile devices from Nokia, Samsung, and HTC, including the newly announced HTC Touch Diamond. The basic channel service is expected to be available for NT$40 (US$1.30) per month. Premium channels will be offered for NT$20-100 (US$0.65 – $3.23). The monthly fee provides unlimited usage of Channel Me data services. There are no additional data traffic fees for using the service. For more information, please visit http://channelme.emome.net.