NEW YORK-Asia Cellular Satellite System, Jakarta, Indonesia, announced the commercial debut Sept. 27 of its dual-mode satellite and GSM 900 voice, fax, Internet, paging and data communications.
The carrier said it is marketing the service under the brand name BYRU, a derivation of the Indonesian word for blue, because the color symbolizes the universe.
In the ACeS universe, a geosynchronous satellite, the Garuda-1, will permit communications in an area bounded by Japan and China in the north, Indonesia in the south, Pakistan and India in the west and the Philippines and Papua New Guinea in the east. The satellite’s antenna can direct traffic to the ground station that can handle it most efficiently.
The carrier said the BYRU service would begin immediately in eight countries, but it did not identify them in its announcement. The Philippines will be ready in October and Taiwan by January.
Negotiations are under way for service provision in other Asian countries, including China, the largest potential single market in the region.
As of Sept. 27, ACeS said it also had signed roaming agreements with GSM operators in 27 countries.
“The launch of ACeS provides the Asia-Pacific region with the reality of a single, fully integrated communications system in locations previously overlooked,” said Adi Rahman Adiwosco, chief executive officer both of Asia Cellular Satellite System and its largest stakeholder, Pasifik Satelit Nusantara.
Other principal stakeholders in the ACeS partnership are Lockheed Martin Global Telecommunications, the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. and Jasmine International of Thailand.
L.M. Ericsson is supplying the network operator with its dual-mode R-190 phone, which is small enough to fit inside a shirt pocket. The suggested retail price for each phone is $1,000.
Airtime charges will be between 35 cents and 75 cents a minute. Customers will have the option to buy the service on a prepaid and postpaid basis.
