Inmarsat signs contracts with initial land satellite terminal manufacturing partners for its forthcoming Global Xpress® service. Cobham Satcom, Paradigm Comm and Skyware Global will manufacture 0.6 to 2.4 metre aperture terminals to deliver up to 50Mbps downlink speeds. The range will cover fixed, transportable, 'fly-away' and 'manpack' terminal types. The terminals have been specifically designed for operation in the Ka-band and will utilise a new core module developed by VT iDirect to provide state-of-the-art capabilities. Scheduled for service introduction in 2014, Global Xpress will offer unprecedented high data rate (HDR) bandwidth and global coverage.