By Steve Gold, Newsbytes
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA, U.S.A.,
02 Mar 2000, 12:13 PM CST
After four months of testing, Globalstar USA is now ready to unleash its satellite telephone service on the US public.
At the CTIA Wireless 2000 show in New Orleans this week, Globalstar USA - a subsidiary of Vodafone AirTouch - said it will be releasing its full service to all US distributors and sales outlets starting this week.
A spokesperson for the firm's sales division told Newsbytes that the rollout of the commercial service has already started, with trial subscribers having being moved over to the commercial service.
As with the pre-launch trial program announced in January, customers must first buy one of two satellite-enabled handsets for use on the Globalstar network, and then opt for one of three service plans on the satellite phone network.
The first handset is a $1,499 Qualcomm tri-mode phone that operates in satellite plus digital and analog terrestrial network modes. The phone, which tips the scales at 11 ounces, is Globalstar's flagship product.
A hands-free car kit for the phone is also available for a fairly hefty $999 extra, which Globalstar says will be useful in industries such as mining, farming, aviation and maritime, as well as search and rescue.
The second system is fixed satellite phone from Qualcomm, which can be mounted on a wall or placed on a table or desk.
The Globalstar-specific phone, which is designed for use in rural or remote areas where population densities cannot justify the deployment cost of landline or terrestrial-based wireless networks, will cost around $2,499.
When calls are routed out or in via the Globalstar LEO (low earth orbit) satellite network, call charges vary between $1.39 and $1.69 a minute, depending on which deal the subscriber is on.
The first of the three service plans is Beyond Basic, which costs $29.99 a month plus per minute charges of $1.69. Beyond 100, meanwhile, costs $169.99 a month and includes 100 minutes of calls. Extra calls are charged at $1.49 per minute.
High usage subscribers can subscribe to Beyond 250, which, at $369.99 a month, including 250 minutes of calls, with extra minutes charged at $1.39 each.
International (i.e. non-North America roaming) usage of the Globalstar service starts at $1.79 per minute, plus international call charges on top of the basic rate. Initially, service is available in most of South America, as well as Europe, but will be phased in globally in the coming weeks.
Toni Carinci, a spokesperson for Vodafone Airtouch, said that these rates are for calls to and from regular US network numbers. Extra charges are levied for international calls and special call handling, as is the norm for mobile phone networks.
Globalstar's service actually soft launched in early November, 1999, with the service being free of charge to the lucky 40,000 test users of the network until early January. From then until Feb. 15, charges were rebated by 50 percent, while the service was in pre-launch mode.
Globalstar USA says its service is available throughout the North American continent, including Canada and Mexico. Globalstar Canada Satellite and Globalstar de Mexico are also rolling out their commercial sales programs this week, Newsbytes understands,
Plans call for voice-mail to be available to users from later in March, although Internet, data and e-mail services, as well as short message service (SMS) text messaging, will not be available until later this year.
Globalstar USA's Web site is at globalstarusa.com .
Reported by Newsbytes.com, newsbytes.com .
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