Launched in 1991 as a joint venture of Loral Corporation and Qualcomm, Globalstar now builds and operates worldwide, low-earth orbit (LEO) satellite-based digital telecommunications systems. The company is a leading provider of mobile satellite voice and data services.
Globalstar supports actions to expand the country’s leadership in wireless innovation, including work of their own. More specifically, the renewed effort to accelerate to the use of additional spectrum for mobile broadband applications.
Globalstar coverage map. Key: satellites represent gateways, orange represents primary service areas, yellow represents extended service areas and blue represents fridge service areas.
Barbee Ponder, General Counsel and VP of Regulatory Affairs at Globalstar, reached out to SBN about the interesting work the company is doing in the Wi-Fi area. “A portion of Globalstar’s satellite spectrum is adjacent to the public Wi-Fi band at 2.4 GHz. Currently, there are only three public Wi-Fi channels available, Chs. 1, 6 and 11. In many urban areas, these channels are now saturated with use – the “Wi-Fi Traffic Jam.” Globalstar has the ability to “open up” a fourth 22 MHz channel under the existing IEEE 802.11 standard, Channel 14.”
Ponder says this will be a “near-term” solution to the jam. “We have a petition for relief pending at the FCC that would permit us to use our satellite spectrum for terrestrial mobile broadband purposes, including this Terrestrial Low Power Service. Essentially, if the FCC grants our petition, Globalstar can increase the nation’s Wi-Fi capacity by no less than 33% very quickly.”
Globalstar is also in discussions with the University of New Orleans’ Computer Science Department to do a trial of a “Wi-Fi Like” service that we call TLPS – Terrestrial Low Power Service.