Mobile Satellite Users Association Announces 2010 Awards to Be Presented at Upcoming Conference

Defense News ~ MCLEAN, Va., March 1 /PRNewswire/ -- The Mobile Satellite Users Association (MSUA) announced the winners of its 2010 Awards, with the Innovation Award going to Inmarsat's FleetBroadband product and the Pioneer Award going to Mary Ann Elliott. The MSUA-7 conference is being held in conjunction with SATELLITE 2010 Conference and Exhibition, the premier event providing solutions to the satellite end-user community, and includes a luncheon sponsored by Hughes on Tuesday, March 16, at which the awards will be presented.

MSUA-7 and SATELLITE 2010 will be held from March 15-18, 2010 at the Gaylord National Convention Center in National Harbor, MD.

Commenting on the awards, MSUA President Tim Farrar noted, "We are delighted to present an Innovation Award for the third year. This year, the award recognizes Inmarsat's FleetBroadband which provides broadband data and voice through a compact antenna that is being adopted rapidly in the maritime market across a range of vessels. We are pleased to honor this innovative product."

MSUA Chairman Bob Roe stated that MSUA's Pioneer Award is being conferred on Mary Ann Elliott in recognition of "her outstanding leadership in facilitating U.S. Government use of commercial mobile satellite communications for almost 30 years. While today government use of commercial facilities is assumed, that wasn't the case years ago, and Mary Ann was instrumental in working with government and the mobile satellite industry in a manner that brought benefits to both."

Roe added, "This year, the Awards Committee also recognized Telecoms Sans Frontieres (TSF) which, since 1998, has been among the first humanitarian groups to arrive at disaster zones, immediately setting up emergency communications facilities. TSF understands, values and optimizes mobile satellite communications whenever it deploys to a disaster area."

The seventh international Mobile Satellite Users Conference and Exhibition, MSUA-7, provides a unique opportunity for users and providers of mobile satellite communications. MSUA-7 is the only forum devoted exclusively to the mobile satellite industry, and features panel discussions and demonstrations of satellite terminals from many companies. Tickets to the luncheon are included with MSUA-7 Conference registration, or can be purchased a la carte. For more information, or to register for MSUA-7, please go tohttp://www.SATELLITEMobilityZone.com.

MSUA (http://www.msua.org) is a non-profit association that promotes the interests of mobile satellite users worldwide. It serves the interests of mobile satellite users by fostering communications among and between users, suppliers of mobile satellite equipment and services, operators of mobile satellite systems, and the various entities that may affect the future of the industry. In addition, MSUA reviews, analyzes and reports on, from a user's perspective, the activities, regulatory decisions and critical events of the MSS industry. Finally, MSUA provides a means of assembling MSS users' views on system and service concerns and conveying these concerns to the appropriate authorities.

CONTACT:
Tim Farrar, President
650 839 0376
president@msua.org