Indigo Telecom launches in Australia

A new telecommunications company, Indigo Telecom, has launched with the aim of providing satellite mobile voice and data services to all of Australia’s landmass.

The Brisbane company opened a customer care facility yesterday and was looking to open a network operations centre within six months.

Indigo claimed that its multi-billion dollar satellite telephony and terrestrial GSM network covered "the entire Asia-Pacific region" and “extended satellite coverage to two thirds of the planet’s land and ocean mass”.

The network was connected to Thuraya’s mobile communications satellite system, which provided services to over 250,000 people worldwide.

Indigo estimated there were more than one million Australians who couldn't access 3G services or fell outside of standard mobile coverage areas - a market the company wanted to address.

“There's 617,000 people working in regional and remote Australia plus potentially another 400,000 Australians who travel for extended periods do not have access to reliable terrestrial mobile network coverage”, Indigo's chief David Ruddiman said.

“Indigo will target this addressable market as well as many thousands of boaties, tourists and outdoor adventurers who will immediately benefit from extended coverage in the harshest and most remote of environments."