NYT -- Qualcomm Plans Globalstar Airborne System
October 29, 2001
Qualcomm Plans Globalstar
Airborne System
By SIMON ROMERO
Qualcomm Inc. (news/quote), a leading wireless
technology company, intends to announce
plans today that it hopes will breathe life into a
money-losing satellite company, Globalstar
Telecommunications (news/quote).
In response to the hijacking and destruction of four
jetliners in the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11,
Qualcomm says it has developed an airborne
communications system that can be used to improve
existing aviation safety services. The technology
functions on Globalstar's 48-satellite system, which
allows two-way communications between aircraft and
a ground-based network.
Qualcomm owns a minority stake in Globalstar, which spent $850 million building and launching its satellite system
but has not yet turned a profit since the network began operating last year. Globalstar's system provides satellite
telephone service, but it is expensive and customers have been scarce.
Qualcomm executives say the new aircraft communications system would improve responses to hijacking by
allowing ground teams to make quick assessments using high- speed data and voice communications. Qualcomm
also said its system would provide ground operations with real-time video and audio monitoring of a plane's cabin
and cockpit.
"This is a way for our airlines to reassure passengers about safety concerns," Irwin M. Jacobs, Qualcomm's
chairman and chief executive, said in an interview.
Qualcomm's system grew out of an earlier plan to provide air passengers with Internet access through the
Globalstar system. Qualcomm, based in San Diego, said that over the last month it had adapted the technology for
aviation safety.
The company is awaiting approval of the system for use in commercial aircraft
by the Federal Aviation Administration. Qualcomm said that the on-board
equipment, which weighs about 50 pounds, could be used on almost any plane,
but that it would seek to sell the technology mainly to large air carriers in the
United States.
Mr. Jacobs said one attraction of the safety system was its ability to send and
receive data at speeds up to 128 kilobits a second, which is faster than those
available on competing systems. Such data transfers could be sent over the
Internet or routed through private communications networks.
The Qualcomm system would also provide aircraft with a back-up transponder,
or transmitting device, that could give altitude, speed and location information to
air traffic controllers even after hijackers turned off the main transponder, as they
did on Sept. 11. And the system would allow officials on the ground to download
flight data or cockpit voice recordings into storage devices.
Qualcomm's system will compete with existing services offered by companies
including Inmarsat and Boeing (news/quote).
The success of Qualcomm's technology will depend on whether airlines and the government decide to acquire it,
said Roger Rusch, president of TelAstra, a satellite consulting company in Palos Verdes Estates, Calif. "Anything
that depends on the Globalstar system is risky," Mr. Rusch said. "I'm not sure if Globalstar can avoid bankruptcy."
Globalstar, based in New York and Bermuda, has had a troubled history. The company signed up fewer clients
than
it originally hoped for its costly satellite telephone service, with only about 55,000 customers at the end of July.
Globalstar defaulted on its debt in January, leaving partners like Qualcomm, which had guaranteed its obligations,
to
repay loans.
Qualcomm says it still stands by Globalstar, maintaining that its satellite technology is an efficient way to provide
fast Internet and voice services in places not served by commercial wireless and land-based communications
networks.
The company declined to say how much its aircraft safety system would cost.
Copyright 2001 The New York Times Company |
