Vsnl Launches Global Phone Service

A new global phone service that covers 95 per cent of the world land mass and far exceeds the range of cellphone roaming was launched in the country yesterday by the Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL).

The Mini-M service, a product of the mobile communication giant Inmarsat (International Maritime Satellite Organisation), became available to Indian users with the VSNL providing link through its land earth station (LES) in Arvi near Pune, D K Nimal, chief general manager (headquarters) of VSNL, said at the launch function here.

Nimal said the phone service was based on the state-of-the-art spot beam technology and used the Inmarsat 3 satellite to provide callers a truly portable phoneset anywhere in the world.

 

He said subscribers going in for a subscriber identity module (SIM) card would be required to pay only $2.7 per minute as against $2.9 charged from others.

The service, even while facilitating voice, fax and data communication, offered enhanced security as the information would be encrypted before transmission.