the International Maritime Satellite Organization (INMARSAT). COMSAT provided 2-way communication via geostationary satellite for a number of cruise ships in Caribbean and other offshore applications. The ship on-board system included antenna stabilized with 3-axis gimbals, beacon signal receiver and an active control system to search and lock the antenna on the satellite during the ship maneuvers and severe waves. The system called Startrack was developed by the Canadian company Techwest Data Systems. In 1995, the system was acquired by the UK Marine Data Systems for their floating rigs operations in the North Sea and in 1996 manufacturing moved to Aberdeen, Scotland. Between 1998 and 2000, COMSAT merged with Lockheed Martin Corp. in a US$2.7 billion merger, to become an element of the subsidiary Lockeed Martin Global Telecommunications (LMGT). COMSAT's ticker symbol CQ was removed from the New York Stock Exchange on 2 August 2000. During the two year approval process, Comsat shareholders lost about US$300 million in purchase value because of a drop in Lockheed Martin stock as the two companies struggled through complex congressional and regulatory hurdles. With the integration of COMSAT, LMGT became the U.S. owner, and the largest shareholder, in both the INTELSAT and INMARSAT systems. INMARSAT was fully privatized on April 15, 1999. Comsat serves as the U.S. Signatory to INTELSAT, and will continue in that role until INTELSAT's expected privatization in 2001 at which point it will become a shareholder. On 27 March 2001, LMGT announced the sale of the COMSAT mobile communications unit, which had been aligned with the satellite services business, to Telenor of Norway for US$116.5 million. This sale was completed on 11 January 2002, and included COMSAT mobile's two Earth station facilities, one in Southbury, Connecticut, and one in Santa Paula, California. Viasat, Inc. acquired COMSAT Laboratories from Lockheed Martin in 2001. On 7 December 2001, Lockheed Martin announced plans to exit its Global Telecommunications services business, disbanding the wholly owned LMGT subsidiary and immediately implementing actions to reassign certain of LMGT's businesses and investments to other operating segments of Lockheed Martin, sell the remaining operations, position investments for monetization, and eliminate the LMGT administrative structure. The COMSAT General telecommunications unit was realigned with the Space Systems business area. COMSAT International Holdings (CIH), formerly known as World Data Consortium, acquired an 81% of COMSAT International (formerly Enterprise Solutions-International, a provider of network services to the South American corporate market) from Lockheed