SRISAMORN PHOOSUPHANUSORN

Aces Regional Services Co, the handheld mobile satellite terminal distribution arm of Jasmine Internet, is broadening into the broadband satellite market to capitalise on growing demand for the high-speed internet service.

The company is marketing a new terminal, Inmarsat Bgan Sabre I, priced at around 80,000 baht. Customers would be charged 1,000 baht as a monthly fee plus US$ 1 a minute for voice services and $5-7 per megabyte for data communications.

The notebook computer-sized product weighs 1.6 kilogrammes, enabling users to connect laptops with the satellite-based terminal to use the internet, handle e-mail, SMS and stream video through the Inmarsat satellite network.

Mobile phones can also be linked with the terminal through Bluetooth technology for both voice and data services. The broadband terminal boasts high speeds of 384 megabytes per second, compared to 120 Mbps normally.

President Somsak Padhana-anek said the firm hoped to become an integrated satellite-based user terminal distributor.

Aces Regional Services earns revenue from selling terminals and monthly service fees. It will also handle billing and pass all revenues from airtime and data usage to operators in the service countries. “We expect to sell between 40 and 50 terminals this year, targeting international organizations, government agencies, publishing companies and the oil and gas industry,” he said.

The company plans to introduce broadband satellite dishes for the maritime market by the end of this year.