The transfer involves switching all broadband and satellite phone services from the Inmarsat-4 (I-4) F1 satellite, which currently covers the Indian Ocean Region, to its sister spacecraft, the I-4 F2, now stationed over Central Africa. This will be the second transfer to take place as part of Inmarsat's repositioning program, which began on January 7th with the entry into service of the new I-4 Americas (I-4 F3) satellite. The first step involved transferring Inmarsat's broadband services — BGAN, FleetBroadband and SwiftBroadband — from the I-4 F2 to the I-4 Americas satellite. Inmarsat's satellite control center in London then fired the I-4 F2's thrusters to move the spacecraft from its geosynchronous location over Brazil to its new in-orbit station at 25 degrees East, arriving on schedule on February 1st.
The transfer of services from the I-4 F1 to I-4 F2 will now proceed at the following times on February 6th:
- 08:00 UTC - IsatPhone, LandPhone, and FleetPhone
- 16:00 UTC - BGAN, FleetBroadband and SwiftBroadband
After the transfer to the I-4 F2 satellite has been completed, the second and final move will begin, with the repositioning of the I-4 F1 to 143.5 degrees East. Further information about the I-4 satellite repositioning program, including coverage maps, can be found on the Inmarsat website under Support.