Terror chief Osama Bin Laden directed his campaigns through satellite broadband provider, Inmarsat, according to sources close to the telco.

Speaking to vnunet.com the company source said that Bin Laden and the Taliban organisation were customers for the service which they found helpful in areas where little infrastructure exists to carry data, such as the wild mountains of Afghanistan.

The source said that all usage stopped last year, when Inmarsat cut off the customer, although they were unable to say why.

The source was backed up by a Schema analyst who said that because other providers such as Global Star and Iridium were in states of bankruptcy, "basically you're looking at Inmarsat as the only satellite provider out there."

When asked about the link, a Immarsat spokeswoman sighed "Oh, that," and put us through to another spokesman.

Officially the company expressed surprise that it was linked with the world's most wanted, and denied all knowledge.

"We're a telecoms company like any other, and if a regulatory body came to us and asked us to cut off a customer for security reasons, we would do that," said the spokesman.

Operating at a sending speed of 144kB and above, companies and individuals can buy lightweight antennae for around $1,000 that can plug into any mobile device and connect to the satellite network. A small price to pay for the millionaire Saudi to videophone his henchmen based around the Arab world.