Globalstar, Inc. is an American telecommunications company that operates a

satellite constellation A satellite constellation is a group of artificial satellites working together as a system. Unlike a single satellite, a constellation can provide permanent global or near-global pass (spaceflight), coverage, such that at any time everywhere on E ...

low Earth orbit A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an geocentric orbit, orbit around Earth with a orbital period, period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an orbital eccentricity, eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial object ...

(LEO) for

satellite phone A satellite telephone, satellite phone or satphone is a type of mobile phone that connects to other phones or the telephone network by radio link through satellites orbiting the Earth instead of terrestrial cell sites, as cellphones do. Therefo ...

, low-speed data transmission and earth observation. The Globalstar second-generation constellation consists of 25 satellites.

History

The Globalstar project was launched in 1991 as a joint venture of Loral Corporation and

Qualcomm Qualcomm Incorporated () is an American multinational corporation headquartered in San Diego, California, and Delaware General Corporation Law, incorporated in Delaware. It creates semiconductors, software and services related to wireless techn ...

. On March 24, 1994, the two sponsors announced the formation of Globalstar LP, a

limited partnership A limited partnership (LP) is a type of partnership with general partners, who have a right to manage the business, and limited partners, who have no right to manage the business but have only limited liability for its debts. Limited partnership ...

established in the U.S., with financial participation from eight other companies, including Alcatel,

AirTouch AirTouch Communications, Inc. was an American Mobile phone, wireless telephone service provider, created as a Corporate spin-off, spin-off of Pacific Telesis on April 1, 1994. Its headquarters were located in the One California building in the F ...

, Deutsche Aerospace, Hyundai, and

Vodafone Vodafone Group Public Limited Company () is a British Multinational company, multinational telecommunications company. Its registered office and global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It predominantly operates Service (economic ...

. At that time, the company predicted the system would launch in 1998, based on an investment of $1.8 billion. Globalstar said in March 1994 that it expected to charge $0.65 per minute for cellular service, compared to $3 per minute from Iridium. By then it had a worldwide license from the

World Administrative Radio Conference The World Administrative Radio Conference (WARC) was a 1979 technical conference of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) where delegates from member nations of the ITU met to revise or amend the entire international Radio Regulations, rad ...

. Globalstar received its US spectrum allocation from the FCC in January 1995, and continued to negotiate with other nations for rights to use the same radio frequencies in their countries. The first satellites were launched in February 1998, but system deployment was delayed due to a launch failure in September 1998 that resulted in the loss of 12 satellites in a launch by the

Russian Space Agency The State Corporation for Space Activities "Roscosmos", commonly known simply as Roscosmos (), is a state corporation of the Russian Federation responsible for space flights, cosmonautics programs, and aerospace research. Originating from ...

. The first call on the original Globalstar system was placed on November 1, 1998, from Qualcomm chairman Irwin Jacobs in

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

to Loral Space & Communications CEO and chairman Bernard Schwartz in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. In October 1999, the system began "friendly user" trials with 44 of 48 planned satellites. In December 1999, the system began limited commercial service for 200 users with the full 48 satellites (no spares in orbit). In February 2000, it began full commercial service with its 48 satellites and 4 spares in North America, Europe, and Brazil. Another eight satellites were maintained as ground spares. Initial prices were $1.79/minute for satellite phone calls. Following the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

in 2001, Irwin Jacobs had his private jet re-classified as an experimental aircraft for the purpose of developing an aviation application of Globalstar. The experimental system not only provided voice and data services to the cockpit and passenger cabin, but also tied in with the aircraft's data bus and provided GPS location service. Ground monitoring of aircraft location, heading, speed, and mechanical parameters such as oil pressure and engine

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or r⋅min−1) is a unit of rotational speed (or rotational frequency) for rotating machines. One revolution per minute is equivalent to hertz. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 def ...

were demonstrated. Video surveillance of the cockpit and cabin were also demonstrated. To work around Globalstar's low data rate, the experimental system used multiple user terminals (UTs) in parallel. Each UT could be configured for voice, or as a member of a bonded link group for internet access. On February 15, 2002, the predecessor company Globalstar (old Globalstar) and three of its subsidiaries filed voluntary petitions under

Chapter 11 Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code ( Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, w ...

of the United States Bankruptcy Code. In 2004, restructuring of the old Globalstar was completed. The first stage of the restructuring was completed on December 5, 2003, when Thermo Capital Partners LLC was deemed to obtain operational control of the business, as well as certain ownership rights and risks. Thermo Capital Partners became the principal owner. Globalstar LLC was formed as a Delaware limited liability company in November 2003 and was converted into Globalstar, Inc., on March 17, 2006. In 2007, Globalstar launched eight additional first-generation spare satellites into space to help compensate for the premature failure of their in-orbit satellites. Between 2010 and 2013, Globalstar launched 24 second-generation satellites in an effort to restore their system to full service. Between 2010 and 2011, Globalstar moved its headquarters from Silicon Valley to Covington, Louisiana in part to take advantage of the state's tax breaks and low cost of living. In April 2018, Globalstar announced it would merge with FiberLight in a deal valued at $1.65 billion. That deal was called off in August 2018 following a lawsuit from Globalstar's largest investor, Mudrick Capital Management. In March 2020, Globalstar announced that the Third Generation Partnership Project ("3GPP") had approved the 5G variant of Globalstar's Band 53, to become known as n53. On March 6, 2021, Globalstar announced to customers that the Sat-Fi2 (Satellite Wifi Hotspot) and Sat-Fi2 RAS (Remote Antenna Station) services would be discontinued as of March 12, 2021. On September 7, 2022, Apple announced a cooperation with Globalstar Inc that "would allow iPhone 14 users to send emergency messages" via satellite, starting in the U.S. and Canada. Apple would go on to release the feature on future iPhone models. On October 29th 2024, Globalstar disclosed in an SEC filing that Apple had agreed to purchase a 20% stake in the company.

Products and services

Globalstar is a provider of satellite and terrestrial connectivity services. Globalstar offers these services to commercial and recreational users in more than 120 countries around the world. Globalstar's terrestrial spectrum, Band 53 and its 5G variant n53 offers carriers, cable companies and system integrators a versatile, fully licensed channel for private networks, while Globalstar's XCOMP technology offers capacity gains in dense wireless deployments. The company's products include simplex and duplex satellite devices, data modems, and satellite airtime packages. Many land-based and maritime industries make use of the various Globalstar products and services from remote areas beyond the reach of cellular and landline telephone services. However, many areas of the Earth's surface are left without service coverage, since a satellite requires being in range of an

Earth station A ground station, Earth station, or Earth terminal is a terrestrial radio station designed for extraplanetary telecommunication with spacecraft (constituting part of the ground segment of the spacecraft system), or reception of radio waves fro ...

gateway. Global customer segments include oil and gas, government, mining, forestry, commercial fishing, utilities, military, transportation, heavy construction, emergency preparedness, and business continuity as well as individual recreational users. Globalstar

data communication Data communication, including data transmission and data reception, is the transfer of data, transmitted and received over a point-to-point or point-to-multipoint communication channel. Examples of such channels are copper wires, optic ...

services are used for a variety of asset and personal tracking, data monitoring, and

SCADA SCADA (an acronym for supervisory control and data acquisition) is a control system architecture comprising computers, networked data communications and graphical user interfaces for high-level supervision of machines and processes. It also cove ...

applications.

Satellite messengers

In late 2007, Globalstar subsidiary SPOT LLC launched a handheld satellite messaging and tracking personal safety device known as the

SPOT Satellite Messenger SPOT is a GPS tracking device that uses the Globalstar satellite network to provide text messaging and GPS tracking (depending on the subscription type purchased). It has a coverage area that includes a large portion of the planet, with the ex ...

. SPOT X, a two-way satellite messenger with GPS location tracking,

navigation Navigation is a field of study that focuses on the process of monitoring and controlling the motion, movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another.Bowditch, 2003:799. The field of navigation includes four general categories: land navig ...

al capabilities, social media linking and direct communication options to emergency services, was launched in 2018.

Simplex data modems

*Globalstar STINGR *Globalstar STX2 *Globalstar STX3 *Globalstar ST100 *Globalstar SmartOne C *Globalstar SmartOne Solar

Duplex data modems

*SPOT Trace *SPOT Gen4 *SPOT X

Duplex voice/data modules

*Globalstar GSP-1620 *Globalstar GSP-1720

Services

* Voice Telephony *One-way mobile terminated

SMS Short Message Service, commonly abbreviated as SMS, is a text messaging service component of most telephone, Internet and mobile device systems. It uses standardized communication protocols that let mobile phones exchange short text messages, t ...

text messaging Text messaging, or texting, is the act of composing and sending electronic messages, typically consisting of alphabetic and numeric characters, between two or more users of mobile phones, tablet computers, smartwatches, desktops/laptops, or ...

*9,600

bit/s In telecommunications and computing, bit rate (bitrate or as a variable ''R'') is the number of bits that are conveyed or processed per unit of time. The bit rate is expressed in the unit bit per second (symbol: bit/s), often in conjunction w ...

circuit switched data In communications, Circuit Switched Data (CSD) (also named GSM data) is the original form of data transmission developed for the time-division multiple access (TDMA)-based mobile phone systems like Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) ...

calls (Direct Dial-Up) *9,600

packet switched In telecommunications, packet switching is a method of grouping data into short messages in fixed format, i.e. '' packets,'' that are transmitted over a digital network. Packets consist of a header and a payload. Data in the header is used b ...

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

access (Direct Internet) *One-way mobile originated short-burst messages (simplex devices only) *Two-way mobile originated / mobile terminated short-burst messages (SPOT X device only) *Device

geolocation Geopositioning is the process of determining or estimating the geographic position of an object or a person. Geopositioning yields a set of Geographic coordinate system, geographic coordinates (such as latitude and longitude) in a given map datum ...

within approximately 30 km

Discontinued Products and Services

*Sat-Fi2 (Satellite WiFi Hotspot) and Sat-Fi2 RAS (Remote Antenna Station) *72

kbit/s In telecommunications, data transfer rate is the average number of bits ( bitrate), characters or symbols ( baudrate), or data blocks per unit time passing through a communication link in a data-transmission system. Common data rate units are mu ...

access (on 2nd-gen WCDMA network) *Globalstar GSP-1620 *Globalstar GSP-1720

System architecture

Gateways

Globalstar satellites are simple " bent pipe" analog

repeater In telecommunications, a repeater is an electronic device that receives a signal and retransmits it. Repeaters are used to extend transmissions so that the signal can cover longer distances or be received on the other side of an obstruction. Some ...

s, unlike

Iridium Iridium is a chemical element; it has the symbol Ir and atomic number 77. This very hard, brittle, silvery-white transition metal of the platinum group, is considered the second-densest naturally occurring metal (after osmium) with a density ...

. A network of ground gateway stations provides connectivity from the 40 satellites to the

public switched telephone network The public switched telephone network (PSTN) is the aggregate of the world's telephone networks that are operated by national, regional, or local telephony operators. It provides infrastructure and services for public telephony. The PSTN consists o ...

and Internet. A satellite must have a Gateway station in view to provide service to any users. Twenty four Globalstar Gateways are located around the world, including seven in North America. Globalstar Gateways are the largest cellular

base station Base station (or base radio station, BS) is – according to the International Telecommunication Union's (ITU) Radio Regulations (RR) – a " land station in the land mobile service." A base station is called '' node B'' in 3G, '' eNB'' in L ...

in the world with a design capacity for over 10,000 concurrent phone calls over a coverage area that is roughly 50% of the size of the US. Globalstar supports

CDMA Code-division multiple access (CDMA) is a channel access method used by various radio communication technologies. CDMA is an example of multiple access, where several transmitters can send information simultaneously over a single communicatio ...

technology such as the

rake receiver A rake receiver is a radio receiver designed to counter the effects of multipath fading. It does this by using several "sub-receivers" called ''fingers'', that is, several correlators each assigned to a different multipath component. Each finger ...

and soft handoffs, so a handset may be talking via two spot beams to two Gateways for path diversity. Globalstar users are assigned

telephone number A telephone number is the address of a Telecommunications, telecommunication endpoint, such as a telephone, in a telephone network, such as the public switched telephone network (PSTN). A telephone number typically consists of a Number, sequ ...

s on the

North American Numbering Plan The North American Numbering Plan (NANP) is an integrated telephone numbering plan for twenty-five regions in twenty countries, primarily in North America and the Caribbean. This group is historically known as World Zone 1, World Numbering Zone ...

in North America or the appropriate

telephone numbering plan A telephone numbering plan is a type of numbering scheme used in telecommunication to assign telephone numbers to subscriber telephones or other telephony endpoints. Telephone numbers are the addresses of participants in a telephone network, reach ...

for the country that the overseas gateway is located in, except for Brazil, where the official Globalstar country code (+8818) is used. The use of gateway ground stations provides customers with localized regional phone numbers for their satellite handsets. But service cannot be provided in remote areas (such as areas of the South Pacific and the polar regions) if there are no gateway stations to cover the area. As of May 2012, voice and full-duplex data services are currently non-functional over much of Africa, the South Asian subcontinent, and most mid-ocean regions due to the lack of nearby gateway earth stations. The Globalstar system uses the Qualcomm CDMA air interface; however, the

Ericsson (), commonly known as Ericsson (), is a Swedish multinational networking and telecommunications company headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. Ericsson has been a major contributor to the development of the telecommunications industry and is one ...

and Telit phones accept standard

GSM The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is a family of standards to describe the protocols for second-generation (2G) digital cellular networks, as used by mobile devices such as mobile phones and Mobile broadband modem, mobile broadba ...

SIM cards, while the

GSP-1600/1700 phones do not have a SIM card interface, but use

/ IS-41 based authentication. Therefore, the Globalstar gateways need to support both the

/ IS-41 and the GSM standards. Globalstar has roaming agreements with local cellular operators in some regions, enabling the use of a single phone number in satellite and cellular mode on multi-mode Globalstar handsets. These cellular roaming agreements are not in place in North America. Because of improvements in cellular phones and networks and the limitations inherent to satellite phones, the newest Globalstar handset (released in 2006) does not include cellular connectivity as Globalstar does not expect subscribers to carry it as their only mobile phone.

First Generation Satellites

Globalstar orbits have an

inclination Orbital inclination measures the tilt of an object's orbit around a celestial body. It is expressed as the angle between a reference plane and the orbital plane or axis of direction of the orbiting object. For a satellite orbiting the Eart ...

of 52 degrees. Therefore, Globalstar does not cover polar areas, due to the lower orbital inclination. Globalstar orbits have an orbital height of approximately 1400 km and latency is still relatively low (approximately 60ms). A Globalstar satellite has two body-mounted, Earth-facing arrays. First-generation Globalstars weigh approximately 550 kg. However, the second-generation Globalstar design will gain significant mass. In 2005, some of the satellites began to reach the limit of their operational lifetime of 7.5 years. In December 2005, Globalstar began to move some of its satellites into a

graveyard orbit A graveyard orbit, also called a junk orbit or disposal orbit, is an Orbit (physics), orbit that lies away from common operational orbits. One significant graveyard orbit is a supersynchronous orbit well beyond geosynchronous orbit. Some satellit ...

above LEO.

First-generation satellite problems

According to documents filed with the SEC on January 30, 2007, Globalstar's previously identified problems with its

S-band The S band is a designation by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) for a part of the microwave band of the electromagnetic spectrum covering frequencies from 2 to 4 gigahertz (GHz). Thus it crosses the convention ...

amplifiers used on its satellites for two-way communications are occurring at a higher rate than expected, possibly eventually leading to reduced levels of two-way voice and duplex data service in 2008. The company's simplex data services used to support the asset tracking products as well as the SPOT Satellite Messenger are not affected by the S-band satellite issue mentioned above. Globalstar also launched eight ground spare satellites in 2007 to help reduce the impact of the issue. In the filing, Globalstar made the following statements: Industry analysts speculate the problem is caused by radiation exposure the satellites receive when they pass through the

South Atlantic Anomaly The South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA) is an area where Earth's inner Van Allen radiation belt comes closest to Earth's surface, dipping down to an altitude of . This leads to an increased flux of energetic particles in this region and exposes orbitin ...

in their 876-mile (1414 km) altitude orbits.

The S-band antenna amplifier degradation does not affect adversely the Company's one-way "Simplex" data transmission services, which utilize only the L-band uplink from a subscriber's "Simplex" terminal to the satellites.

The Company is working on plans, including new products and services and pricing programs, and exploring the feasibility of accelerating procurement and launch of its second-generation satellite constellation, to attempt to reduce the effects of this problem upon its customers and operations. The Company will be able to forecast the duration of service coverage at any particular location in its service area and intends to make this information available without charge to its service providers, including its wholly owned operating subsidiaries, so that they may work with their subscribers to reduce the impact of the degradation in service quality in their respective service areas. The Company is also reviewing its business plan in light of these developments.

The Company's liquidity remains strong. At December 31, 2006, in addition to its credit agreement, the Company had unrestricted cash on hand and undrawn amounts under the Thermo Funding Company irrevocable standby stock purchase agreement of approximately $195 million.

Globalstar's interim solution to premature first-generation satellite problems

In 2007, Globalstar launched eight spare satellites for its existing constellation with a view to reducing the gaps in its two-way voice and data services pending commercial availability of its second-generation satellite constellation. Globalstar continued to operate its failing satellite constellation to provide and support services on an intermittently-available until the second-generation Globalstar satellites became available for service. Until the new second-generation Globalstar satellite constellation became operational, Globalstar offered its "Optimum Satellite Availability Tool" website, which subscribers could use to predict when one or more unaffected satellites would be overhead at a specific geographic location.

Second-generation satellites

In December 2006, Globalstar announced that Alcatel Alenia Space, now

Thales Alenia Space Thales Alenia Space () is a joint venture between the French technology corporation Thales Group (67%) and Italian defense conglomerate Leonardo (company), Leonardo (33%). The company is headquartered in Cannes, France. It provides space-based ...

in its Cannes headquarters, has been awarded a €661 million contract for the second-generation constellation. The satellites were designed with a life expectancy of 15 years, significantly longer than the design life of Globalstar's first-generation constellation. The second- generation constellation will consist of 24 satellites. In addition, Globalstar announced on April 3, 2007, that it has signed a €9 million agreement with Thales Alenia Space to upgrade the Globalstar satellite constellation, including necessary hardware and software upgrades to Globalstar's satellite control network facilities. In August 2008, Thales Alenia Space began production assembly, integration, and testing of the second-generation flight model satellites, in its

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

factory, for launch as early as Q3 2009. In July 2009, Globalstar, Inc. announced that it has received complete financing for its second-generation satellite constellation and signed an amendment to the initial contract, specifying in particular, the adjusted conditions for production and the new satellite delivery timetable. The first six second-generation satellites were launched on October 19, 2010, from the

Baikonur Cosmodrome The Baikonur Cosmodrome is a spaceport operated by Russia within Kazakhstan. Located in the Kazakh city of Baikonur, it is the largest operational space launch facility in terms of area. All Russian Human spaceflight, crewed spaceflights are l ...

in Kazakhstan. The launch used a

Soyuz-2 Soyuz2 (; GRAU index: 14A14) is a Russian expendable medium-lift launch vehicle and the seventh major iteration of the Soyuz rocket family. Compared to its predecessors, Soyuz-2 features significant upgrades, including improved engines and ...

launch vehicle with a

Fregat Fregat () is an upper stage developed by NPO Lavochkin for universal compatibility with a wide range of medium- and heavy-lift launch vehicles. Fregat has been used primarily with Soyuz and Zenit rockets, and entered operational service in ...

upper stage. These second-generation satellites are expected to provide Globalstar customers with satellite voice and data services until at least 2025. Six more second-generation satellites were launched in July 2011 followed by another six satellites in December 2011. The launch of the second-generation constellation was completed on February 6, 2013, with the launch of the final six satellites using a Soyuz 2-1a launch vehicle. The 24 second-generation spacecraft weighed approximately each at launch, and are 3-axis stabilized. In February 2022, it was announced that Globalstar purchased 17 new satellites to continue its constellation built by MDA and

Rocket Lab Rocket Lab Corporation is a Public company, publicly traded aerospace manufacturer and List of launch service providers, launch service provider. Its Rocket Lab Electron, Electron orbital rocket launches Small satellite, small satellites, and ha ...

for $327 million. The satellites are expected to be launched by 2025. On June 19, 2022, a backup satellite for Globalstar was launched on a

Falcon 9 Falcon 9 is a Reusable launch system#Partial reusable launch systems, partially reusable, two-stage-to-orbit, medium-lift launch vehicle designed and manufactured in the United States by SpaceX. The first Falcon 9 launch was on June 4, 2010, an ...

rocket. This was the first Globalstar satellite to launch in over 9 years. Prior to the launch, Globalstar did not announce the mission, besides a vague quarterly report stating the satellite would launch.

Business operations

Corporate structure and financing

Predecessor Company – Globalstar LP. In February 1995, Globalstar Telecommunications Ltd. raised $200 million from its

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investm ...

in the

NASDAQ The Nasdaq Stock Market (; National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the U.S. by volume, and ranked second on the list ...

market. The IPO price of $20 per share was equivalent to $5 per share after two stock splits. The stock price peaked at (post-split) $50 per share in January 2000, but institutional investors began predicting bankruptcy as early as June 2000. The stock price eventually fell below $1 per share, and the stock was delisted by NASDAQ in June 2001. After the IPO, the publicly traded Globalstar Telecommunications (NASDAQ symbol GSTRF) owned part of system operator Globalstar LP. From that point on, the primary financing for Globalstar LP was vendor financing from its suppliers (including Loral and Qualcomm), supplemented by junk bonds. After a total debt and equity investment of $4.3 billion, on February 15, 2002, Globalstar Telecommunications filed for

bankruptcy protection, listing assets of $570 million and liabilities of $3.3 billion. The assets were later bought for $43 million by Thermo Capital Partners LLC. Globalstar LLC and Globalstar, Inc. When the new Globalstar emerged from bankruptcy in April 2004, it was owned by Thermo Capital Partners (81.25%) and the original creditors of Globalstar L.P. (18.75%). Globalstar LLC was incorporated in April 2006 to become Globalstar, Inc. Globalstar, Inc. completed an IPO in November 2006. The stock currently trades on the NYSE American under the symbol GSAT.

SPOT LLC

In August 2007, Globalstar announced the introduction of the

product, to be marketed through its latest subsidiary SPOT, Inc., later named SPOT LLC. The SPOT Messenger is manufactured by Globalstar partner Axonn LLC and combines the company's simplex data technology with a Nemerix GPS chipset. SPOT is intended to leverage Globalstar's still adequate L-Band uplink, which is used by simplex modems. The product was launched in early November 2007. Subsequent launches included the SPOT Trace, SPOT X with Bluetooth and Gen4.

Collaboration with Apple, Inc.

Globalstar provides the infrastructure for the ''Emergency SOS via satellite functionality'' announced in 2022 for all versions of the

iPhone 14 The iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus are smartphones developed and marketed by Apple Inc. They are the List of iPhone models, sixteenth-generation iPhones, succeeding the iPhone 13, iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Mini, and were announced during List of Ap ...

series and newer. Globalstar reserves 85% of its network capacity for the service, and previous to the announcement of the service, Globalstar invested in expanding its infrastructure, including "material upgrades to Globalstar’s ground network to enhance redundancy and coverage" and "construction of 10 new gateways around the world". In February 2023, Globalstar announced it would be repaying a $150 million debt under a 2019 agreement to

EchoStar EchoStar Corporation is an American telecommunications company, specializing in satellite communication, wireless telecommunications, and internet services. Echostar also provides multichannel video programming and mobile services through its ...

, which could have prevented the Apple partnership.

Employees

The first five employees of Globalstar were transferred from the founding companies in 1991. Although few figures were publicly disclosed, the company apparently reached a peak of about 350 employees until layoffs in March 2001. However, this figure was misleading, as most of the development, operations, and sales employees were employed by the company's strategic partners. The company then appointed satellite telecommunications veteran Olof Lundberg to lead a turnaround at the company to serve as chairman and CEO. After beginning his career with Swedish Telecom, Lundberg had been founding Director General (later CEO) of

Inmarsat Inmarsat is a British communications satellite, satellite telecommunications company, offering global mobile services. It provides telephone and data services to users worldwide, via portable or mobile terminals which communicate with groun ...

from 1979 to 1995. He served as founding CEO and later CEO and Chairman of

ICO Global Communications Pendrell Corporation (formerly NASDAQ:PCO, delisted Nov 2017) is an intellectual property (IP) investment, advisory services and asset management firm. The company develops and implements strategies to acquire, commercialize, manage, divest and li ...

from 1995 to 1999. Lundberg resigned from the company (then in bankruptcy) on June 30, 2003. Paul E. Jacobs was named CEO of Globalstar on Aug. 29, 2023, replacing David Kagan.

References

External links

{{authority control Companies listed on NYSE American Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2002 Mobile phone companies of the United States Satellite telephony Communications satellite operators Companies established in 1998 Qualcomm Loral Space & Communications Spacecraft launched by Soyuz-FG rockets Spacecraft launched by Soyuz-2 rockets 2006 initial public offerings Satellites in low Earth orbit Covington, Louisiana Companies based in Louisiana