Who in the World Needs a Satellite Phone?

Organizations with very remote operations are the target market for mobile satellite communications.

With land-based mobile phone networks - particularly GSM networks - covering more and more locations around the world, is there a future for satellite mobile communications?

In August, two of the pioneers in mobile satellite communications, Iridium LLC and ICO Global Communications (Holdings) Ltd., filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy-law protection. Industry experts say that the appeal to the business traveler ''on the run'' has been overestimated, given the notable improvement in terrestrial mobile communications in the past year.

Two rivals, Inmarsat Ltd. and Globalstar Telecommunications Ltd., both emphasize that their marketing strategies are different.

Inmarsat has a long history as a niche provider for specialized sectors, such as shipping and aviation, and is introducing capability for data transmission. Globalstar, in turn, is pinning its hopes on a wide spectrum of industrial, governmental and security users who do not need to access communications ''on the run,'' but who do need easy-to-use interfaces with terrestrial communications links and with computerized databases. They are betting that such customers will be happy with a slightly larger handset than the traditional mobile phone in return for such ''horizontal'' connectivity.

Inmarsat - which was established in 1979 as an intergovernmental organization and became a private company earlier this year - can now provide advanced data communications at a rate of 64 kilobits per second using portable satellite terminals the size of a notebook computer weighing around 4 kilograms (9 pounds).

The company calls its platform a ''global area network.'' The communications are ISDN-compatible, allowing for rapid data transfer and offering the potential to integrate corporate information-technology networks with Inmarsat's global mobile satellite communications network.

Inmarsat is showing the new mobile ISDN terminal at Telecom 99 in Geneva.

About 40 percent of current traffic on the network is data, according to Andrew Ivey, Inmarsat's marketing manager in London. ''We anticipate that this will grow to 70 percent by 2003,'' he says. Using standard ISDN interfaces, the terminals - which are manufactured by Thrane & Thrane of Denmark and STN Atlas Elektronik of Germany - will provide access to a full range of desktop software via the company's satellites.

Globalstar, which began operations in San Jose in 1994 after its formation by Loral Space & Communications and Qualcomm, plans to market its new satellite mobile phone services in more than 100 countries beginning in December.

The public gets a first official look at the company's dual- and tri-mode handsets at Telecom 99 in Geneva. Lightweight portable phones, manufactured by Qualcomm, Ericsson of Sweden and Trieste-based Telital, will be shown alongside a pay phone designed by Schlumberger of France, a maritime fixed phone and a car kit. Users of the handset can select the mode - GSM, CDMA, satellite or analog - to provide seamless communications wherever they are.

Globalstar's president, Anthony Navarra, says that more than 300,000 phones had been purchased by the company's service providers by the end of August at wholesale prices ranging from $880 to $1,200. Providers are expected to pay between 35 cents and 55 cents a minute for the service; their retail customers will initially be charged between $1 and $2 a minute. Mr. Navarra adds that prices will come down as take-up expands next year.

Pamela Ann Smith