UK Oil & Gas Regulatory News (UKOG)

22 Oct 2008 13:27



22 October 2008

Sarantel Group plc

("Sarantel" or the "Company")

Sarantel Antenna Featured in New Iridium 9555 Satellite Phone

Breakthrough Internal Antenna Technology Dramatically Reduces Handset Size

Sarantel (AIM: SLG) announces that further to its announcements of 18 March 2008 and 30 June 2008 regarding a design win at Iridium Satellite LLC ("Iridium") and an initial $780,000 order to supply antennas to a major satellite phone services provider, its Sarantel PowerHelix antenna technology is now an integral part of the Iridium 9555 handset released earlier this week. The initial order has since been followed by further orders amounting to $730,000.

Sarantel develops and manufactures advanced miniature filtering antennas for mobile, wireless and handheld devices. Iridium is a leader in the satellite communications industry and offers truly global, pole-to-pole coverage. 

The Company believes that the Iridium 9555 represents a significant step forward in innovation and usability for handsets in the mobile satellite services sector. Users will benefit from a host of features, such as a brighter screen, a speaker phone, text and email capabilities, an upgraded mini-USB data port, an internal antenna and significantly reduced size. It is also programmable in 14 languages.

"The ability of Iridium to reduce the antenna size, without sacrificing performance, was a critical design element for this revolutionary new handset," said David Schoen, Iridium's chief technology officer. "Sarantel responded to our challenge by providing Iridium with a highly innovative, technically advanced design for the 9555 antenna. It proved to be a superb technology partner, producing a creative, cost-effective and performance-driven solution." 

David Wither, chief executive of Sarantel, said, "We are delighted that Iridium selected us to supply the antenna for the 9555. Until now, finding an antenna small enough to make their product attractive while obtaining high enough performance to meet stringent link margin requirements has been a major challenge for satellite phone makers. The pioneering work Sarantel is doing with antenna technology now means that, for the first time, users can benefit from high performance in a small handheld satellite phone package, like Iridium's innovative new 9555."

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Sarantel (www.sarantel.com)

Sarantel is a leader in the design of high-performance miniature antennas for portable wireless applications including hand-held navigation, satellite radio and laptop computers.

Sarantel's revolutionary ceramic filtering antennas offer dramatically improved performance over existing antenna designs, resulting in a clearer signal, better range and a 90 per cent reduction in the amount of signal radiation absorbed by the body. Because of their smaller size and higher capabilities, Sarantel's antennas enable manufacturers to create innovative high-volume consumer products incorporating technologies such as GPS, Wi-Fi, WiMax, 3G, GPRS, Satellite Radio and Bluetooth.

Iridium Satellite (www.iridium.com)

Iridium Satellite LLC is the only MSS company offering pole-to-pole coverage over the entire globe. The Iridium constellation of low-earth orbiting (LEO), cross-linked satellites provide critical voice and data services for areas not served by other communication networks. Iridium serves commercial markets through a worldwide network of hundreds of distributors, and provides services to the U.S. Department of Defense, and other U.S. and international government agencies. The company's customers represent a broad spectrum of industry, including maritime, aeronautical, government/defense, public safety, utilities, oil/gas, mining, forestry, heavy equipment and transportation. The company is headquartered in Bethesda, Md. and is privately held.