Telenor and Inmarsat brought their ‘technology road show’ to Vietnam. The two communication companies organised a seminar introducing the newest mobile satellite service from Inmarsat, Broadband Global Area Network (BGAN) offering simultaneous voice and high-speed data communications via a portfolio of small, lightweight user terminals. On the sidelines of the event, Harry Felle, Asia-Pacific sales manager for Telenor Satellite Services, was interviewed by the local press about Mobile Satellite Services.
What do you hope for from the Vietnamese market and what will you focus on to exploit mobile satellite services?
We have organised mobile demonstrations since last December. We invited distributors to seminars in Thailand, the Philippines and the Republic of Korea. We were present in Indonesia and Australia, and now we are Vietnam. We have had a network of distributors in Asia, but selected Vietnam as the destination for our mobile demonstration because we have great hopes for the Vietnamese market.
In Vietnam, our distributor is the Vietnam Maritime Communication and Electronic Company (Vishipel). Last year, we provided Vishipel two terminals for the company’s piloting activities. We are here now to boost and realise the piloting results. We hope to offer services to a widespread market. I forecast that Asia will have around 1,000 terminals by late this year, and ten per cent of the figure will be available for Vietnam.
The fields we focus on include finance, health care, shipping, oil and gas, mining and others. We hope to offer users in these fields better profits with BGAN.
What is the difference between existing communication services and your services?
There is no other supplier of this service in the world. Some suppliers provide satellite systems of broader bands with large and non-mobile terminals. With our services, customers can connect them with their companies, web browser, and check email in places where other services cannot work. With a terminal weighing one kilogram, users can access our services in every location, as our coverage is nationwide.
The robust communications service from Telenor Satellite Services is especially useful for a variety of IP-based applications such as streaming video, video conferencing and Web browsing. The service allows businesses and organizations to extend networks to remote operations sites, where other service providers cannot bring their communication coverage.
I would like to stress that customers can use either our terminals or terminals of other suppliers. Even when they use terminals from other suppliers they will still benefit from special prices, as we have signed co-operation contracts with distributors and suppliers of terminals.
Why have Telenor and Inmarsat decided to bring this service into Vietnam at the moment?
We realise that Vietnam is increasingly investing in technology to improve effectiveness and value for consumers and the ICT work force. Therefore, Telenor and Inmarsat will focus on introducing BGAN to organisations, ICT service providers and enterprises in Vietnam. We consider Vietnam one of the top ten markets in Asia for our services.
We have organised the ‘technology road show’ in Asia for a period of time. In fact, not may people know about the services. Organising training and demonstrations, we would like to improve people’s understanding of the broadband internet access and mobile satellite services, as well as services that companies can use to meet demand. We are here to help them have products they need.
Nguyen Thoa
Vietnamese
