Closet geek that I am, I'm excited about the possibilities that BGAN communications and store and forward technology open up for those of us in the foreign newsgathering field.

With a lightweight digital camera, a laptop and a notebook-sized satellite dish, it's now possible to feed edited TV pieces from almost anywhere in the world.

A fully functioning radio studio can be set up in a hotel room, a vehicle or a mud hut within 10 minutes.

The technology still has some way to go.

High quality live TV broadcasting still requires bulkier equipment, but it's surely only a matter of time before we're using mobile phones instead of sat trucks to uplink.

But it's not just the major broadcasters who are harnessing the wonders of Inmarsat.

Human Edge Tech offers packages of relatively low-cost hardware and software for climbers high up mountains, sailors in the middle of the ocean and explorers on ice shelves.

I came across the company via Annabelle Bond, who I'm sure is all over the media today because she's a fine mountaineer -- and not simply because she's posh climbing totty.