Globalstar Constructs New Satellite Phone Gateway in South Florida

Globalstar has constructed a new Gateway in Sebring, Florida which should be on line summer of 2005. This new Gateway will greatly enhance services in the Bahamas and the Caribbean area. The upper Bahamas is currently serviced by a Globalstar Gateway located in Canada which puts upper Bahamas on the fringe of the coverage zone. The upper Bahamas include Andros Island, Bimini Islands, Berry Islands, Cat Island, Eleuthera, Grand Bahama Island, Great Abaco, Little Abaco, New Providence Island, Upper Exuma Islands and Walkers Cay. Before this new Gateway comes on line customers could experience higher rates of dropped calls while traveling in the Upper Bahamas. The lower Bahama Islands is serviced by the Globalstar gateway in Puerto Rico which gives very good service to the following lower Bahama Islands: Acklins Island, Crooked Island, Great Inagua, Great Exuma and the lower Exumas, Little Inagua, Long Island, Mayaguana Island and Ragged Island.

Globalstar has the best call clarity of any phone in the hand held satellite phone Industry. There is no echo or time delay associated with the Globalstar phone service. This is achieved through Globalstar's "Bent Pipe Technology". Globalstar's "path diversity" technology allows the call transmission to be sent to as many as four satellites at one time. This prevents dropped calls and insures high quality service. Calls are transmitted from the satellite phone up to the Globalstar Satellite Constellation. The call transmission then is sent down to the closest Globalstar gateway available. The Gateway then sends the call to its destination through domestic land line telephone service. When making an inbound call to a Globalstar satellite phone the process simply works in reverse. The inbound call goes to the Gateway by landline then the Gateway transmits the call to the satellite constellation. The call is then transmitted from the satellite constellation to the satellite phone.

The improved service and the new south Florida Gateway will increase the number of Globalstar customers that desire reliable service in the Upper Bahamas and improved overlapping service in the Caribbean. Globalstar is dedicated to invest in additional Gateways to enhance services. It is projected that the next Gateway to be added will be in northwest Canada which will give additional coverage to Alaska. Globalstar is setting aside funds to eventually add a second Globalstar satellite constellation. Globalstar's current constellation is made of forty eight low earth orbiting satellites which gives coverage in over 120 countries throughout the world.

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