Inmarsat Regulatory News (ISAT)

Inmarsat announces aviation broadband initiatives with Deutsche Telekom and Lufthansa

London, UK: 21 September 2015: Inmarsat plc (LSE: ISAT.L), the leading provider of global mobile satellite communications services, today announces a strategic partnership with Deutsche Telekom to bring unprecedented passenger connectivity to Europe's aviation industry and its customers. A new innovative, combined satellite network and LTE-based ground network will deliver travellers in Europe the advantage of in-flight high-speed Internet access when in the air. Airlines will benefit from a cost efficient and high speed, high capacity connectivity solution.

Inmarsat and Deutsche Telekom are working together to develop the European Aviation Network, seamlessly combining satellite connectivity from a new Inmarsat S-band satellite with an LTE-based ground network, operating in the same frequency band, developed and run by Deutsche Telekom. The connectivity platform developed by Inmarsat and Deutsche Telekom has been designed specifically to meet the growing needs of passengers travelling across Europe, which includes some of the highest density air-traffic routes in the world. It provides a long-term solution with abundant capacity, speed and coverage to equal an at-home high-speed broadband customer experience while aboard an airplane.

"With this integrated network we can meet the need for capacity, flexibility and quality of service, including the ability to expand quickly to anticipate growth in demand," said Rupert Pearce, Inmarsat's CEO. "The integrated satellite and complementary LTE-based ground network will ensure that Inmarsat and Deutsche Telekom together deliver the fastest, best and most consistent in-flight broadband experience that meets the needs of airlines in this region. Combined with our global GX (Ka-band) and L-band services, we now have connectivity solutions for the cockpit and the cabin of any type of aircraft, flying in any geography."

The European Aviation Network consists of the Inmarsat S-band satellite, a state-of the-art platform, which will provide multi-beam pan-European coverage. The satellite is custom-designed to offer innovative mobile satellite services (MSS) to commercial and business airlines flying over the dense European routes, utilising Inmarsat's 30MHz (2 x 15MHz) S-band spectrum allocation in all 28 EU member states. It will be combined on the ground with a new powerful mobile broadband network of approximately 300 LTE sites which Deutsche Telekom will build and manage. The LTE sites will have a range of more than 80km, will be modified to transmit data to the operating altitude and speeds of passenger aircraft. Deutsche Telekom's ground network will be combined with Inmarsat's S-band satellite connectivity to ensure full coverage of European air routes, and sufficient capacity to support the demand, even in high density traffic areas during peak busy hours. The switching between the satellite and the ground will be automatically managed by the cabin systems, creating no impact or interference with the service delivered on board.

In advance of the roll-out of the European Aviation Network, Inmarsat is delighted to also announce that Lufthansa will be the first European hub airline to capitalize on innovative connectivity services in the sky using Inmarsat's Global Xpress broadband services. Planned for early summer 2016, Lufthansa will launch a state-of-the-art Global Xpress satellite-based broadband service on board its European flights. Adopting the Global Xpress technology enables an enhanced passenger experience, and provides Lufthansa with a service which is provided seamlessly by one global partner. With three Global Xpress Ka-band satellites now launched, Inmarsat is on schedule to offer global commercial service by the end of 2015.

Building on these strategic relationships, Inmarsat also announces that Lufthansa has committed to join Inmarsat and DT to conduct a flight trial programme of the European Aviation Network in 2017.

Enquiries:

Chris McLaughlin

Tel: +44 (0)77 9627 6033

chris.mclaughlin@inmarsat.com