Globalcom Satellite Phone News and Updates

GLOBALSTAR ENHANCES SERVICE IN FLORIDA AND CARIBBEAN BY OPENING SATELLITE GATEWAY IN SEBRING

New gateway opening accelerated as hurricane season arrives throughout the region

Milpitas, Calif., July 14, 2005 – Globalstar LLC, the world's most widely used handheld satellite phone provider and a leading supplier of high-value satellite voice and data services to business, announced today enhanced service coverage in Florida, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean with the opening of a new Globalstar gateway in Sebring, Florida. The Federal Communications Commission has approved the operation of a new Globalstar gateway to ensure that enhanced service and coverage would be available with hurricane season approaching earlier than usual this year. Globalstar expects the gateway to begin operation later today, immediately providing expanded satellite coverage in the Southeastern United States and the Caribbean.

“The opening of the Sebring Gateway is a major milestone for Globalstar and represents a significant commitment to continuously improving service and coverage for our maritime business, recreational and emergency response customers who rely on satellite communications in that region of our North American service area,” said Jay Monroe, CEO and Chairman of Globalstar LLC. “Further, the opening represents another step in Globalstar’s effort to continually upgrade our network infrastructure to accommodate a growing number of subscribers and support new applications that use Globalstar voice and data services.”

The Sebring Gateway, the company’s first newly constructed gateway since 2004, was originally expected to be fully operational August 1. However, with hurricane season approaching earlier than usual this year, work was accelerated and the FCC application process was accelerated to ensure that enhanced service and coverage would be available in Florida, the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean. The FCC used its power to grant a special temporary authority to enable Globalstar to operate the gateway while the FCC processes Globalstar’s application to operate the facility permanently.

Globalstar has a solid track record with county, state and federal agencies involved in disaster relief, emergency response and law enforcement. Last year, response teams used Globalstar satellite handsets to coordinate relief efforts following the aftermath of the hurricanes which hit the Florida region. Agencies such as FEMA have been a long-standing users of Globalstar, in order to provide emergency communications service during incidents around the country.

While contingency communications applications are an immediate need, Globalstar originally conceived the Sebring gateway to serve a burgeoning number of users in the region. “The need is immediate, not only for emergency communications, but for our customers who regularly use Globalstar voice and data services”, added Monroe. “Some of our most prolific users are in the Caribbean and surrounding areas, including recreational boaters, oil & gas companies and other industrial users. Growth among these segments continues to exceed our expectations, and we focus our efforts to maintain our service at levels our customers have come to expect.”

posted by Globalcom @ 9:58 AM  

GlobalCom customers prepare for Hurricane Dennis

This unexpected early hurricane caught a number of people on the Florida panhandle by surprise. The last hurricane that hit the Florida panhandle this early in the hurricane season was in 1936. It is very unusual to deal with a hurricane this early in the season. Already tropical storm Emily is in the Caribbean and is expected to become a hurricane within the next few days. I expect this will be a very active hurricane season and people on the Eastern and Gulf coast should be prepared. Emergency communication is a vital part of this preparation.

Numerous GlobalCom customers that purchased phones last year during hurricane season activated the phones when hurricane Dennis was a threat. These customers included large utility companies, insurance companies, as well as military and government. It is our recommendation to our GSA customers to allow the satellite phones to remain active throughout the hurricane season. We recommend this because when a threat of a hurricane to the coast line is imminent it can take as long as thirty-six hours to activate a satellite phone due to the tremendous demand placed upon Globalstar and the Iridium service providers to activation large quantities of phones in a short period of time. Another reason people living close to the coast need to plan ahead are the logistics of shipping the phone to them when a hurricane is within a few days of hitting the coast. All the common carriers which include UPS and Federal Express will stop all shipments a few days prior to the hurricane hitting the coast and in the case of hurricane Ivan it could be days after the hurricane before deliveries can resume.

To insure you have uninterrupted reliable communication it is GlobalCom recommendation to purchase and activate a satellite phone(s) or rent satellite phone(s) at the beginning of hurricane season and not wait till a threat of a hurricane is within a few days of hitting the coast because the units may not be available to ship or the shipper may not be able to deliver the units prior to the hurricane.

GlobalCom is recommending our Globalstar hand held and fixed site units for all areas of the Eastern and Gulf coast. It is our least expensive phone which will give reliable communication even in areas of total devastation. The Globalstar hand held unit is the most popular unit which is easy to use and portable. The Globalstar FAU-200 Fixed site unit has increased in popularity due to a resent price drop cutting the units price in half. The Globalstar FAU-200 allows you to use the unit inside a building. It provides a non-directional external antenna that is simple to install. The FAU-200 allows you to have up to three extension phones off one phone line. These extension phones can be off the shelf desktop or cordless phones. The FAU-200 has an optional battery back-up for short periods of power outages. GlobalCom is one of the largest providers of satellite phones in the United States and is committed to make every effort to be prepared to provide reliable emergency communication to its customers in the hurricane prone areas.

posted by Globalcom @ 12:02 PM