Satellite phone card

Citation

(1999), "Satellite phone card", Work Study, Vol. 48 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/ws.1999.07948daf.001

Satellite phone card

The administrative demands of using the business phone for personal calls by remote office workers can now be a thing of the past. Recently BT launched a unique global pre-paid satellite phone card. By integrating BT's global chargecard and Inmarsat networks, the new card is the first that can be used on both satellite and land lines, ensuring all calls are paid for before they're made -- no cash transactions, monitoring, billing or allowances necessary.

BT Aeronautical & Maritime (A&M), the mobile satellite communications division of BT, has introduced the card for the offshore and exploration sector to help minimise the administrative overhead of personal call management and to enable competitively-priced phone calls for employees. The card also gives callers more independence and privacy, boosting the morale of those far away from family and friends.

Similar in appearance to a credit card, each card has an initial value of either 150 or 400 units, with each unit having a value of $0.25. The cards are supplied in packs of ten, and are delivered to the specified destination within 48 hours of placing the order (by phone, fax or on-line).

BT card-carrying employees simply dial a short code to access the service from their satellite terminal and then enter the personal account number on the card. A voice-message tells the caller how many units remain, and requests the full destination phone number. The voice-message then informs the caller what length of call is available, and the call is then connected. Only upon connection will debiting begin.

The new prepaid card service is available from BT Inmarsat-A, BT B-Sat, and BT M-Sat services (see details below), and is competitively priced with a potential further saving of up to 22 per cent on off-peak calls.

Being unit-based, the card gives full choice of currency used if it is to be resold to employees. Among the first users is a major maritime client who has purchased $200,000-worth of pre-paid cards, citing the unique ability to use the card via Inmarsat and also on terrestrial networks as one of the key reasons for purchase.

Peter Jackson, head of BT A&M's mobile satellite services said: "BT's new pre-paid card is a real step forward in simplifying personal calling for remote offices, setting new standards for flexibility and versatility. Placing a call no longer requires supervision, and couldn't be easier with our user-friendly multi-lingual voice-messaging interface. The service is just one of our range of value-add propositions which provide unique benefits to our customers."

BT expects to extend the service in the foreseeable future to cover all communications media available on land, sea and air.

Cards can now be ordered on-line at the new BT A&M web site at www.btaeromaritime.com.

BT's Maritime and Land Mobile Satellite Services accessible by BT Pre-paid Satellite Card are:

• •

  BT Inmarsat-A is the established analogue satellite service widely used for commercial shipping and remote offices providing links for telephone, facsimile and data communication at speeds of up to 64 kb/s.

• •

  BT B-Sat is the digital equivalent of Inmarsat-A. B-Sat is also suitable for remote offices, and is transportable. It offers High Speed Data up to 64 kb/s. Voice, fax, data and telex communications operate at 9.6 kb/s.

• •

  BT M-Sat is a smaller version of B-Sat, offering voice, fax, and data at 2.4 kb/s.