Lest we forget that there are more partners than just AirTouch:
March 24, 1999 14:56
-GLOBALSTAR: Globalstar enters with Elsacom in the European satellite telephony market
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M2 PRESSWIRE-24 March 1999-GLOBALSTAR: Globalstar enters with Elsacom in the European satellite telephony market (C)1994-99 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD
* Four agreements between local GSM operators and Elsacom signed so far to provide Globalstar services
* T-Mobil is the first German provider
Globalstar founding partner Elsacom has signed agreements with three GSM operators: a roaming agreement with the German T-Mobil and an exclusive distribution with the Italian Omnitel and the Serbian Mobtel. A new joint venture with the Finnish Oy Radiolinja Ab grants Elsacom a distribution channel in Scandinavian and Baltic countries. Elsacom, a Finmeccanica company, is the exclusive provider of Globalstar services in 24 European countries, including Germany. By its distribution strategy more and more European GSM customers will have access to the Globalstar mobile satellite network when the initial services are started in the third quarter of 1999.
Elsacom mission is to open the distribution channels of the GSM operators for the new satellite services. All subscribers of the operators which have signed a roaming or distribution agreements with Elsacom will have access to the Globalstar network, and benefit from competitive satellite telephony services based on the Globalstar system. By maintaining the same SIM card and the same phone number the subscriber will be able to use the Globalstar services in the areas where the GSM network is not available.
"The Elsacom approach is a business to business approach -- explains Luigi Gasparollo, General Manager of Elsacom - We support our GSM partner by broadening its service portfolio with a natural extension of the existing terrestrial telecommunication. The operator leverages its new market opportunities and at the same time keeps the direct contact to the customer: contracting and invoicing will be the same."
Globalstar is the first multi regional system that fully integrates with existing terrestrial infrastructures. The satellite system employs a constellation of 48 satellites to transfer the telephone call to the nearest gateway (ground station) allowing both, the GSM operator and the user, to benefit from a lower cost of the phone call. The satellite services will be accessible with the use of a dual mode (GSM mode and satellite mode) handset produced by Telital and Ericsson whose. cost will be competitive with the current GSM phones of the last generation. "Globalstar looks forward to providing simple, dependable satellite phone services to end users around the world, working closely with our first class network of service providers like Elsacom", says Reid Stephenson, Vice President Marketing and Communications for Globalstar. Globalstar has launched successfully 16 of its low earth-orbiting (LEO) satellites so far.
A total of 52 satellites, 48 in operation plus four in-orbit spares, will be in space by December 1999.
Based in Italy, Rome, Elsacom was formed in 1995 as a division of Elsag Bailey. In 1997 it became a company of Elsacom N.V. (Holding), a Dutch company whose miss on is to finance and participate companies involved in the development of satellite service provision business. Elsacom is a company of the Finmeccanica Group and has about 80 employees (120 by the end of 1999). It offers fixed and mobile satellite telecommunication services. Elsacom with some of the most important operators like AirTouch (USA), TE.SA.M. (France Telecom-Alcatel), Alenia Aerospazio (Finmeccanica), Dacom (Cor), Vodafone (UK), Loral (USA) is one of the strategic partners of the Globalstar project. Furthermore, Elsacom is a Globalstar exclusive service provider in the following Western and Eastern European countries: Italy, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Slovenia, Slovak Republic, Bulgaria, Romania, Yugoslavia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia, Albania, Hungary, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Ukraine, Belorussia and Moldova.
Globalstar, led by founding partner Loral Space & Communications, is a partnership of the world's leading telecommunications service providers and equipment manufacturers, and besides Elsacom includes Qualcomm Incorporated, AirTouch Communications, Alcatel, Alenia, China Telecom (HK), DACOM, Daimler-Benz Aerospace, France Telecom, Hyundai, Space Systems/Loral and Vodafone.
Please visit our homepage: globalstar.com
CONTACT: Claire Backhurst/Christine Medforth, GCI Group Tel: +44 (0)171 3 51 2400 e-mail: cmedforth@gciuk.com
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