Inmarsat Ltd, the global mobile satellite communications provider, has topped 100,000 registered mini-M satellite phones worldwide with sales doubling in the last two years, consolidating the mini-M's position as the world's biggest selling mobile satellite phone.

"We are delighted to have reached this milestone," said Samer Halawi, regional director, Inmarsat Ltd. "Sales of mini-M satellite phones have grown rapidly since the launch of the service in 1997, and today it is the most popular solution in our instant communication portfolio, enabling people to communicate via voice, fax or e-mail anywhere in the world." In the Middle East, demand for voice communications via satellite grew stronger in the last two years.

"Much of the traffic generated from our Inmarsat satellite that covers the Indian ocean region in the last two years was from voice and low-speed data which shows the importance that mini-M is gaining in our part of the world," said Halawi.

Captain David Younes, managing director of USMSTS, a satellite communication solutions provider for the maritime industry and a Lebanon-based Inmarsat partner, said: "Judging from our sales record, the workhorse of the family remains the standard mini-M type world phone, which has been the most invaluable tool for numerous users." Some of the mini-M users, according to Younes, include the UN-ESCWA in Beirut, ship masters, managers and crew in Lebanon and Cyprus, Africa-based medical staff and rough diamond buyers. The Mini-M offers a complete range of models from portable, to maritime and vehicular. The models also cover ones for corporate jets with tracking antenna. This year Inmarsat launched a payphone version.

Younes said that another practical feature of the Inmarsat mini-M system was the various types of pre-paid airtime SIM cards operating on this system, adding that crew cards, enabling seafarers to keep in touch with their loved ones, were also very popular.

"The Inmarsat mini-M system has in fact established its voice, fax and data communications reliability up to latitudes of 70 degrees and under adverse weather conditions on land and at sea, during solar flares activity and thunderstorms. All other RF-based communications have proven ineffective under these conditions," said Younes.

The portable mini-M terminal is lightweight, fully portable and provides 98 per cent land mass coverage. The maritime mini-M offers coverage in all the major shipping routes.

"In all variants, mini-M has proved itself a valuable communications link for anyone operating beyond the reach of traditional terrestrial networks or when those networks don't offer the quality or level of service required to make voice or data calls. It also offers value for money when compared with many GSM roaming rates - if that service is available - and can be less than half the cost of hotel rates," the company said.

Increasingly important has been the payphone solution which offers seafarers, governments, mining, energy and construction sites, a cost-effective voice service for 'communities' operating outside the reach of traditional communication services or where that service is not reliable enough for email, fax and voice calls.