<P> In June 2009, many of the world's largest mobile phone manufacturers signed an EC - sponsored Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), agreeing to make most data - enabled mobile phones marketed in the European Union compatible with a common External Power Supply (common EPS). The EU's common EPS specification (EN 62684: 2010) references the USB Battery Charging Specification and is similar to the GSMA / OMTP and Chinese charging solutions . In January 2011, the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) released its version of the (EU's) common EPS standard as IEC 62684: 2011 . </P> <P> As well as the now - common cellular phone, there is also the very different approach of connecting directly from the handset to an Earth - orbiting satellite . Such mobile phones can be used in remote areas out of reach of wired networks or where construction of a cellular network is uneconomic . </P> <P> The Inmarsat system is the oldest, originally developed in 1979 for safety of life at sea, and uses a series of satellites in geostationary orbits to cover the majority of the globe . Several smaller operators use the same approach with just one or two satellites to provide a regional service . An alternative approach is to use a series of low Earth orbit satellites much closer to Earth . This is the basis of the Iridium and Globalstar satellite phone services . </P>

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