UK Oil & Gas Regulatory News (UKOG)

18 Mar 2008 07:00

Sarantel Group PLC18 March 2008 18 March 2008 SARANTEL GROUP PLC Design win with Iridium for next generation Satellite phone Sarantel (AIM: SLG), the leading manufacturer of revolutionary filteringantennas for mobile and wireless devices, has secured a significant contractwith Iridium to develop the antenna for its next generation satellite phone. Thedevelopment of the antenna will be funded by Iridium and the company believesthat the contract is a positive step forward for the business. David Wither, Chief Executive of Sarantel said: "This is the first time Sarantel's antenna technology will be used on a mobilephone to provide two-way communication and represents a major step forward forthe company's diversification strategy. Sarantel won this contract after a veryrigorous selection process against well established competitors because we wereable to offer higher performance in a smaller package. We look forward toworking with Iridium on their next generation handset which promises to set anew standard for satellite phone industry." Enquiries: Sarantel David Wither, Chief Executive Officer 01933 670 560 Sitkow Yeung, Finance Director Ambrian 020 7776 6423 Tim Goodman College Hill 020 7457 2020 Adrian Duffield/ Ben Way Notes to Editors: Sarantel (www.sarantel.com) Sarantel is a leader in the design of high-performance miniature antennas forportable wireless applications including hand-held navigation, satellite radioand laptop computers. Sarantel's revolutionary ceramic filtering antennas offer dramatically improvedperformance over existing antenna designs, resulting in a clearer signal, betterrange and a 90 per cent reduction in the amount of signal radiation absorbed bythe body. Because of their smaller size and higher capabilities, Sarantel'santennas enable manufacturers to create innovative high-volume consumer productsincorporating technologies such as GPS, Wi-Fi, WiMax, 3G, GPRS, Satellite Radioand Bluetooth. Iridium Satellite LLC (www.iridium.com) Iridium is the only MSS offering gap-free, pole-to-pole coverage over the entireglobe. Iridium's constellation of 66 low-earth orbiting (LEO), cross-linkedsatellites (and multiple in-orbit spares) provides critical voice and dataservices for regions not served by other communication networks. Driven byincreasing demand for reliable, secure, global, mobile satellite links, Iridiumhas been steadily growing at a double-digit annual rate since 2004. Iridiumserves commercial markets through a worldwide network of more than 150 partners,and also provides services to the U.S. Department of Defense, and other U.S. andinternational government agencies. The company's customers represent a broadspectrum of industry, including maritime, aeronautical, government/defense,public safety, utilities, oil/gas, mining, forestry, heavy equipment andtransportation. Iridium has launched a major development program for itsnext-generation satellite constellation, called "NEXT," through which it willenable satellite-based innovations beyond communications. The company isheadquartered in Bethesda, Md. and is privately held. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange