COMSAT Mobile Communications (CMC) is an American telecommunications company which provides global mobile communications solutions to the maritime, land mobile and aeronautical communities, and offers data, voice, fax, telex and video capabilities via the Inmarsat geosynchronous satellite constellation through two earth station facilities in Southbury, Connecticut, and Santa Paula, California.Telenor to Acquire COMSAT Mobile Communications From Lockheed Martin Global Telecommunications Lockheed Martin Press Release 27 March 2001. Retrieved 10 January 2010. CMC was a business unit of COMSAT Corporation of Bethesda, MD (NYSE: CQ) (delisted).
Services Together with COMSAT General Corporation's (another business unit of COMSAT Corp) MARISAT system, CMC provided a method of medium- and long-distance maritime ship-to-shore communication, augmenting and eventually replacing high-power radiotelegraph and radiotelephone equipment with solid state, user-friendly satellite terminalsGlobal Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS) International Maritime Organization. Retrieved 12 January 2010. which required relatively minimal training to use in voice, fax, and telex modes that were impervious to normal radio propagation conditions and unaffected by distance, although initial rates were high ($10 per minute for voice/fax to/from the USA).Ross, Irwin. Marisat - deep-space switchboard for ship-shore calls Popular Science, January 1979. Retrieved 12 January 2010.
CMC services included Mobile Packet Data Service (MPDS), which provided remote users with IP capability over satellite for portable and reliable communications for Internet applications such as World Wide Web access, file transfer and e-mail.
History Acquired by Lockheed Martin Global Telecommunications (LGMT) (a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin) as part of an August 2000 merger with its parent COMSAT Corporation, the COMSAT Mobile Communications unit was purchased from LGMT by Telenor of NorwayTelenor to Acquire COMSAT Mobile Communications From Lockheed Martin Global Telecommunications Lockheed Martin Press Release 27 March 2001. Retrieved 10 January 2010. on 11 January 2002.Lockheed Martin Reports 2001 Earnings Lockheed Martin Press Release 25 January 2002. Retrieved 10 January 2010.
See also Inmarsat, British satellite communications company Global Maritime Distress and Safety System Maritime transport § Other departments
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