European user trial of paging by satellite
British Telecom conceived the idea of adapting their existing paging service, together with the use of existing terrestrial pagers, to yield a one way data (i.e., paging) satellite service to mobiles. The user trial of paging by satellites was successful. It demonstrated that services could be provided over a wide geographical area to low priced terminals. Many lessons were learned in unexpected areas. These include the need for extensive liaison with all users involved, especially the drivers, to ensure they understood the potential benefits. There was a significant desire for a return acknowledgement channel or even a return data channel. Above all there is a need to ensure that the equipment can be taken across European borders and legitimately used in all European countries. The next step in a marketing assessment would be to consider the impact of two way data messaging such as INMARSAT-C.