Globalstar claims to have successfully conducted its first public phone call via the Globalstar mobile netowrk before an audience at the sixth Satel Conseil Symposium in Paris. The call, conducted on September 9, 1998, received an enthusiastic response from the conference attendees.
Standing by Napoleon¿s Tomb on the Champs de Mars in Paris, Mr. Jean
Bernard Lagarde, director general of TE.SA.M., and Mr. Bill Thatcher,
vice president of business development for Globalstar, placed the call
on a QualComm Globalstar handset and reached the president of TE.SA.M.,
Mr. Enrique Fernandez, during the conference¿s session on mobile
satellite systems.
TE.SA.M, a partnership between France Telecom and Alcatel, is a founding
partner of Globalstar and a major Globalstar service provider.
¿I¿m very pleased to be involved in making this first public phone call
via the Globalstar satellite system,¿ said Thatcher during the call to
the conference members. ¿We¿ve been looking forward to this moment for a
long time.¿
The inaugural public phone call was transmitted from a QualComm
Globalstar handset to a passing Globalstar satellite orbiting 1414
kilometers overhead, and relayed to the TE.SA.M-owned Globalstar gateway
in Aussaguel, France. The call was then routed to the satellite
conference at Maison de la Chimie in Paris via the local public switched
telephone network (PSTN).
"We¿ve certainly come a long way since this venture was started,¿ said
Mr. Thatcher. ¿Not only does this call confirm key aspects of
Globalstar technology transmitted over satellite, it clearly validates
QualComm¿s CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) wave form, and the
gateway infrastructure that QualComm has developed for the Globalstar
system.¿ The call was concluded with warm thanks to the QualComm team
supporting the demonstration.
The Globalstar system, comprising 48 low-earth-orbit (LEO) satellites
and a global network of ground stations, will allow people around the
world to make or receive calls using hand-held, vehicle-mounted and
fixed-site terminals. Globalstar will also provide data transmission,
messaging, facsimile and position location services.
Globalstar currently has eight satellites in orbit and expects to have a
minimum of 32 satellites in its constellation to initiate commercial
service in the Fall of 1999. Five Globalstar gateways are being used to
control and test the satellite system, and site work and construction is
under way at 20 more gateway sites around the world. Globalstar has
service provider agreements in 117 countries, covering most of
Globalstar's business plan.
