Mobile Telesystems Inc, MTI, has a new portable satellite communications transmitter small enough to fit into a standard suitcase. The TCS-9200 satellite terminal weighs 70lb and can be used to send voice, facsimile and still photographs via one of the three International Maritime Satellite Organisation, Inmarsat, satellites. The Gaithersburg, Maryland-based company will primarily look to sell the terminal to western organisations with bases in the third world; it hopes embassies, news teams and disaster relief workers will use the system, developed to function in temperatures of up to 60oC and winds of 60mph. The kit allows encryption at both the receiver and transmitter points. The TCS-9200 starts at $53,000, while Inmarsat charges are $7 to $10 per minute. Full motion pictures cannot be sent on the transmitter because the bandwidth required, at around 56Kbps, is too large for telephone lines. Mobile Telesystems is two thirds owned by Microelectronics Technology Inc of Taiwan, with the rest held by Communications Satellite Corp, Comsat, of which it used to be a division.
