Originally Inmarsat was founded as the International Maritime Satellite Organization (IMSO) as a non-profit organization in 1979. It was a self financing body formed to improve maritime communication and improve safety of life at sea. From the start the acronym “Inmarsat” was used.
- In 1982 Inmarsat satellite services were established. In the beginning they used space resources leased from third parties.
- In 1989 Inmarsat worked with the European Space Agency on its Navsat system studies. This led to the development of specifications for navigation payloads for the geostationary satellites.
- In 1990 Inmarsat used satellites owned and operated by them. Its first generation satellite systems provided maritime, aeronautical and land mobile services.
- November of 1990 Inmarsat decided to include navigation transponders on its third generation of satellites, the Inmarsat-3.
- Five Inmarsat-3 satellites were launched between 1996 and 1998.
- On April 15, 1999, Inmarsat was the first intergovernmental agency to privatize. They remained an important public service agency for maritime safety.
- December 2000, the Inmarsat system supports satellite voice and data for more than 200,000 mobile users.
- In 2001 Inmarsat commissioned Gilmour Research to assess in the research on determining the demand for Crew Calling.
- The first and second of the Inmarsat “I4” satellites were launched in 2005.
- The third and final “I4” was launched in August of 2008.
- In 2007 the IsatPhone was the first handheld satellite phone Inmarsat has introduced to the market.
- Isatphone service will be available in the U.S. in 2009