Inmarsat Welcomes Landmark Double Access Ruling to The U.S. Domestic Market; U.S. Congress Grants Inmarsat Further Extension to Terms of ORBIT Act.

Business Editors & High-Tech Writers

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 3, 2001

FCC Grants Inmarsat Partners Access Right To U.S. Domestic Market

Inmarsat Ventures plc, a leading global satellite communications company, has welcomed the news that President George W. Bush has signed legislation extending the ORBIT Act deadline for its initial public offering.

The new deadline is Dec. 31, 2002, but the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has authority to further extend it to June 30, 2003. This legislation, combined with an FCC ruling in October granting access rights for several Inmarsat partners, means that with immediate effect businesses in the U.S. will be able to benefit from the same robust and reliable high speed data and voice communications services other customers around the world already experience.

As a former Intergovernmental Organisation, Inmarsat was restricted from conducting business in mainland United States except in the coastal waters around the country and in the skies overhead under the terms of the ORBIT Act of 2000.

"We are delighted that the U.S. Congress has recognized that Inmarsat today is a fundamentally different entity," said Michael Storey, President and CEO of Inmarsat Ventures plc. "Inmarsat was privatized in April 1999 and is now a private company registered in the U.K."

"In the meantime we are pleased that our partners in the U.S. can compete fairly and evenly in the mainland US market, bringing businesses there, the same benefits of robust mobile data communications customers of Inmarsat delivered solutions benefit from in the rest of the world. Inmarsat is about bringing bandwidth at any longitude, any latitude and any altitude," added Michael Storey.

In October the FCC in the U.S. granted several Inmarsat partners the rights to provide Inmarsat services in the U.S. with immediate effect. That ruling appeared to demand that Inmarsat still conducted an IPO by the end of 2001, but with stock market conditions fluctuating around the world the Board of Inmarsat Ventures plc announced in October it was delaying the company's IPO for the short-term. The new legislation signed today clarifies the situation.

"Despite a number of business failures in the mobile satellite market, Inmarsat has for a significant number of years continued to offer state-of-the-art services to mobile satellite users on land, in the air or at sea," Michael Storey said. "Inmarsat is fundamentally unlike any other business in this sector. We are financially strong, having been profitable for virtually all our 21 years, and we have a different strategy than our rivals focusing primarily going forward on data services as opposed to voice."

"Today Inmarsat's satellites deliver the world's highest speed mobile data services -- up to 64 kbit/s -- six times higher than those offered by any other mobile wireless provider," he added. "Earlier this year while most of the world's telecoms companies were still talking about GPRS services we launched the world's first global mobile high speed packet data solution via satellite, and at the end of next year we expect to push the boundaries further with the launch of a regional 144kbit/s service before launching a near global 432kbit/s UMTS compatible service in 2004."

In the USA key Inmarsat distributors include: Comsat Mobile Communications, Stratos Global, SITA for aviation services.

About Inmarsat Ventures plc

Inmarsat Ventures plc operates in three core areas: the provision of global mobile satellite communications; transportable broadband communications solutions and content; and applications and solutions to its key markets.

In April 1999, Inmarsat changed from being an international organization to become a limited company registered in the U.K.

The Inmarsat Ventures group consists of:

-- Inmarsat Ltd: a leading provider of global mobile communications solutions
via nine geostationary satellites 36,000 km above the equator. Inmarsat Ltd
delivers its solutions through a global distribution network of approximately
200 distributors and other service providers operating in over 150 countries to
end users in the maritime, land and aeronautical sectors.

-- Rydex Corp: an applications developer providing email and data
communications software for the maritime sector.

-- Invsat Ltd: provides integrated communications networks, systems and
solutions, including very small aperture terminals (VSATs) to the oil and gas,
maritime, government and emergency services markets.

-- Airia Limited: which is developing a live in-flight entertainment service
for the airline industry.

Visit http://www.inmarsatventures.com for more information.