Travel-speak

HI-TFCH Satellite phones - satphones,
for short - will soon make it possible
for train travellers to make long distance
calls while*on board.

The satphone, no bigger than
a briefcase, is a part of the modernisation drive in communication
facilities on the railway networks.
Immarsat is the moving force behind
this venture. Tests will short!
conducted with portable Immarsat-M
stphones on trains across
country. There will be direct dialling,
and data-connection facilities. According to the Union minister of state for
communication, Sukh Ram, "The initiative to expand the cooperation
in mobile satellite services would start
in the middle of this year, with 2 proto
type vehicle-mounted terminals installed on trains throughout India's rail
network."