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Microcap & Penny Stocks : Globalstar Telecommunications Limited GSAT -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jeff Vayda who wrote (25070)	7/23/2002 8:25:48 AM
From: Jeff Vayda	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 29987

Globalstar lobbying FCC to allow use of terrestrial networks Aerospace Daily07/23/2002 (New item, quotes a New York demo for today - Jeff Vayda) Satellite telephony provider Globalstar is lobbying the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to allow the company to use terrestrial cellular networks in areas where direct satellite signals are unavailable, such as inside buildings. Satellite phones suffer in urban environments and indoors, where a direct line of sight to a spacecraft is rare. Ancillary Terrestrial Components (ATC) technology will supplement satellite service with a ground-based network. The FCC already has granted permission for Globalstar to use part of its existing mobile satellite service (MSS) spectrum for experimental ATC use. For the company to make ATC available commercially, the FCC must agree to amend the company's current licenses so Globalstar can use its allocated spectrum bands over terrestrial networks. A demonstration of ATC technology took place July 19 in Washington, D.C., with FCC and other government representatives on hand. Another demo is set take place in New York July 23. "Part of the reason for holding this demonstration was to show them that this wasn't just a pipe dream - it really does work," Globalstar senior communications director Mac Jeffery told The DAILY. He said the company hopes to get final approval from the FCC within months. The company could begin rolling out ATC service on a location-by-location basis 12 to 18 months later. Although Globalstar handsets already are available with terrestrial cellular phone equipment installed in them, that service is provided separately through a terrestrial provider. "This consolidates the two," Jeffery said. "You get one phone number, one bill, and it's a more efficient use of the spectrum. Rather than having two chunks of spectrum for two different systems, we're using just one chunk of spectrum for both." Although MSS provider ICO originally spearheaded the ATC effort, Globalstar is the first to develop a working prototype, Jeffery said. Emergency services use The desire to provide emergency services personnel with dependable communications could advance the MSS industry's case with the FCC, Jeffery said. "We provide ... services in areas where there's just nothing else," Jeffery said. "With [ATC], it really becomes a much more attractive option as an emergency services-type communication system." If ATC is approved, Globalstar also would be able to offer emergency services users priority access on both satellite and terrestrial networks, regardless of how busy they are, "so for the first time, the U.S. government would have absolutely anywhere-anyplace-anytime priority access," Jeffery said. In addition to the frequencies it uses today, Globalstar also is seeking approval to offer ATC on the newly licensed 2 GHz bands that would be used by the company's next-generation satellites. The company's current constellation consists of 48 operational satellites and four on-orbit spares. - Jefferson Morris (jeff_morris@AviationNow.com