YOUSUF AL SAYED CEO of Thuraya Satellite Telecommunications Company

“The UAE lives on telecommunications and likes to do so using wireless technology,” observes Yousuf Al Sayed, CEO of Thuraya Satellite Telecommunications Company. And not just the UAE, as Mr Al Sayed is in a better position than most to appreciate. For the Abu Dhabi-based firm boasts the world’s largest subscriber base for satellite mobile phones, comprising more than a quarter of a million people across the globe.

Thuraya's satellite network extends to more than 110 countries in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Central and Southern Asia, and by the end of the year will have been extended to the 21-country Asia-Pacific region, following the launch this month of the company’s third satellite. Circling 22,236 miles above the earth, at 44 degrees east longitude, five metric tons of technology will provide coverage to an area extending from the East of India all the way to Japan. “With that development, our coverage will encapsulate about two thirds of the world’s population,” says Mr Sayed.

Thuraya was founded by an investor consortium made up of prominent national telecommunications organisations, financial houses and investment companies, including Etisalat and Abu Dhabi Investment Company. It launched its mobile satellite telecommunication system in October 2000, thus providing blanket-to-blanket coverage to more than 110 countries in Europe, North and Central Africa and large parts of Southern Africa, the Middle East, Central and South Asia. A second mobile satellite was launched in 2003.

The launch of the third satellite is part of Thuraya’s push to double its market size within three years by bringing countries such as China, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines and Australia into its orbit. The company last year opened a permanent office in Singapore as part of the extension of its services into the region.

“Thuraya is not really aimed at the UAE, which is geographically well covered by GSM,” says Mr Al Sayed. “Our market is in countries that do not have a developed telecommunications infrastructure, or that are so large that it is not cost effective to provide telecom infrastructure or GSM to cover the whole territory, and where satellite coverage is the solution.”

Subscribers access Thuraya’s mobile satellite system through service providers who are either national GSM network companies or local telecom operators. Thuraya’s special dual-mode satellite/SGSM handsets enable users to switch to satellite transmission whenever they are out of range of terrestrial GSM networks.

“Thuraya is unique and differentiated from other satellite service providers because we are closer to GSM than satellite. The difference is that we use satellite infrastructure,” says Mr Al Sayed.

In connection with the latest satellite, service provider agreements have already been signed in Australia and South Korea, and with Beijing-based China Satellite Communications Global – a deal that Mr Al Sayed describes as “a big breakthrough for us. “ Agreements with companies in other targeted countries will be signed by the end of the year. Meanwhile, negotiations for a fourth satellite are under way with Boeing Satellite Systems, which has built the other three satellites.

Earlier this year, Thuraya launched Thuraya SG-2520, the smallest and lightest satellite phone, which it is calling the world’s first satellite smartphone. The SG-2520 offers advanced voice, data, fax and SMS. Users are able to download and upload information from the internet in either the satellite or the GSM mode. Thuraya handsets also have a built-in GPS worldwide radio-navigation system, which can prove a lifesaver in remote areas.

Under an agreement signed with Al Jazeera Channel, Thuraya subscribers are provided with the latest breaking, political, business, and sports news through Short Messaging Service (SMS).

“We are focusing on our core business, which is voice and data,” Mr Al Sayed says. “We want to bring in new services, to innovate, especially in terms of tracking systems for fleet management, and to enter into the maritime business in a strong way along the commercial routes from Japan, Singapore, Dubai, and Jeddah all the way to the UK and Amsterdam. Those are important routes for us, and for which we are developing the necessary hardware and services.”