The F2, the second in the Inmarsat-4 (I-4) series, was launched last November to provide Broadband Global Area Network (BGAN) voice and broadband data across the Americas.

The migration from Inmarsat-3 achieves the final milestone in the deployment of the I-4 F2 spacecraft. It paves the way for the launch of the BGAN service in the region within the next few months.

BGAN is the world's first global mobile communications service to provide both voice and broadband data simultaneously through a truly portable device. It also uniquely offers guaranteed Internet Protocol (IP) data rates on demand.

The I-4 satellites will deliver seamless BGAN coverage across 85 per cent of the world's landmass and be available to 98 per cent of the world's population.

They are part of an eight-year development and US $1.5 billion investment by Inmarsat.

Each satellite carries a single global beam that covers up to one-third of the Earth's surface, 19 wide spot beams and 228 narrow spot beams.

Preparation for the transition to the I-4 F2 took place over many months and involved more than 30 people from Inmarsat's Network Operations and Satellite Control Centres.

Richard Denny, vice-president of Inmarsat's Satellite and Network Operations, said the transition was smooth and well co-ordinated, ensuring that our services were moved across in the shortest possible time.

"It took just 12 minutes to shut down the Inmarsat-3 payload and enable the very complex Inmarsat-4 payload, with the first Inmarsat C services being restored six minutes later," he said.

"All services were up and running within 16 minutes of turning on the I-4 payload - a real tribute to the Inmarsat staff and those at the land earth stations (LES) supporting the transition."