Globalstar and Ericsson Partner for New Network
Globalstar the world’s largest provider of satellite phones has signed a $22.7 million agreement with Ericsson. Under the agreement Ericsson will work with Globalstar to develop, maintain, and implement a ground interface to be installed at Globalstar’s satellite ground stations. The all Internet protocol (IP) based core network system is wireless 3G/4G compatible. The system will link the Globalstar radio access network to the public switched telephone network (PSTN) and the Internet.
The agreement will put in place the ground infrastructure component for Globalstar’s next generation of advanced IP based satellite voice and data services.
Globalstar representatives say Ericsson is a world class company and is able to combine the best technical approach and implementation while meeting their operational requirements. In addition, Ericsson’s global experience operating in various countries where Globalstar has ground stations is a must to develop the unique core system network solution.
Ericsson will deploy Globalstar’s IMS-based core network solution to provide the next generations advanced services to Globalstar customers. Douglas Smith President of Ericsson Federal said, “We believe that our leadership position in the area of IMS will enable Globalstar to simplify the delivery of services such as VOIP, Push-to-Talk and Messaging across all access technologies as they migrate to an IP-network.”
Globalstar is in the process of designing and developing their third generation handset, satellite machine to machine (M2M) and other satellite based devices. The new ground network will support speeds of up to 1Mbps to Globalstar users and up to 256Kbps to the satellites in a flexible all IP configuration. The new network will support push to talk and multicasting, such as multimedia messaging MMS. Also it will support mobile video and geolocation applications. The third generation phones will be in a smaller four factor with multi-band and multi-mode capability as well as GPS integration. Current Globalstar user’s equipment will be backward compatible with the new system.