The Inmarsat multinational co-operative of 79 telephone operators aiming to set up a global mobile telephone system, has launched its first portable pay-phones, giving areas too remote for telephone or even cellular phone connections access to international phone lines, facsimile and data services. Inmarsat expects buyers of the phones, which sell for about $15,000 each, to be remote hotels, businesses and global entrepeneurs. Calls will vary in price, but should average about $5.00 a minute and be paid for with credit cards or pre-paid charge cards. The phones are completely self-contained with their power supplied by solar panels or wind generator-charged batteries. Calls are picked up from anywhere in the world by the satellites and then fed into the terrestrial phone network – and they can also be received from terrestrial phones.
