By Michael Pearson
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Copyright 2007 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
ATLANTA — EMS Technologies of Norcross, best known for helping military commanders communicate with their forces and providing airline passengers with live in-flight television, plans to get into the satellite telephone business.
The company announced Wednesday that it had won a $26 million contract with European satellite telephone provider Inmarsat to design and build a second-generation handheld satellite telephone.
The unit will be designed to switch seamlessly between cellphone and satellite networks, and will provide broadband-speed data and voice services anywhere on the globe, Chief Executive Paul Domorski said Wednesday.
Entering the crowded satellite phone field marks a departure for EMS’ SATCOM division, which until now has focused largely on its aeronautical broadband business, including contracts to deliver airborne satellite antennas needed to bring live television into airborne airliners.
Analyst Chris Quilty of Raymond James & Associates Inc. said the move positions EMS to benefit from strong demand for satellite phone service driven by military operations and increased emphasis on homeland security needs.
“While unlikely to go mainstream anytime in the near future, the satellite phone market does hold promising growth potential, and EMS is now positioned to benefit from this long-term growth,” he said in a research report on the company issued Wednesday.
The contract extends EMS’ expertise in satellite communications into a field that could prove useful not just in handheld telephones, but also as equipment on commercial trucks and ships, and in military applications, Domorski said.
“This is clearly a significant transaction for us,” he said.
Inmarsat fielded its first generation of handheld satellite phones last month for customers in Asia, the Middle East and Africa, spokesman John Warehand said.
Warehand said his company wants EMS to slim down the new model to more closely resemble contemporary cellphones and add new features, which he declined to discuss.
Warehand said Inmarsat is looking for a late 2008 rollout.
The announcement continues a stream of good news for EMS, which on Aug. 1 announced second quarter earnings of $72.1 million --- up 50 percent over the same period in 2006.
The company’s defense contracts continue to grow, with active accounts for the U.S. Air Force’s B-2 bomber and F-22 fighter. It will provide hardware for a new series of secure defense communications satellites and expects increased orders for the antenna arrays that allow commercial airliners to receive live satellite television.