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Secure voice calls for South African market now also available via satellite

Cellcrypt has announced its Cellcrypt Mobile is available over Inmarsat’s broadband satellite services, enabling encrypted voice calls to be made on popular smartphones from anywhere on the planet, for the first time.

Cellcrypt Mobile for Satellite solution provides end-to-end realtime encryption on smartphones, such as Nokia and BlackBerry, to prevent private conversations from being compromised, enabling individuals within corporations and governments to converse in a highly secure manner without the need for specialised handsets.

Cellcrypt uses the latest Internet technology to provide voice call quality phone calls and realtime encryption to levels specified by the US government. From the same handset, it operates on all major wireless networks including 2G (GPRS/ EDGE), 3G, WiFi and now satellite. “This is the first solution that provides encrypted voice calls over satellites using commercial off-the-shelf smartphones. It provides a convenient and cost effective mechanism for people to make secure calls from locations where they have no cellular coverage or simply cannot rely on it,” said Etienne Louw, Director-Spatial Security Solutions of African Astronautics, local supplier of Cellcrypt. For existing Cellcrypt users, this solution adds the capability of being used anywhere even when there is no cellular or WiFi network coverage. For existing users of Inmarsat’s mobile broadband services – particularly its land-based broadband global area network (BGAN) service – it adds high-strength security as well as the benefit of being able to use a market-leading handset. The same handset can also be used to make secure calls on cellular and WiFi networks adding the convenience of a single device with a single phonebook for all secure calling situations. Cellcrypt Mobile for Satellite connects WiFi-capable Nokia Symbian S60 and RIM BlackBerry smartphones directly to Inmarsat mobile broadband terminals.

“Another advantage”, says Louw, “is the cost savings on international mobile roaming calls. I have used the software in Spain, France, Lesotho and Nigeria to make secure calls to my partners in South Africa and Switzerland. All that was needed was to purchase local SIM cards with some data credits and I could talk securely, mobile to mobile, for the equivalent of around 30 cents per minute”.

For details contact Etienne Louw at elouw@afrinautics.com

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