Low-earth-orbit satellite voice provider Globalstar L.P. has reduced the number of handsets expected to be available at the end of the year from 70,000, as announced in September, to between 35,000 and 50,000.
Globalstar spokesman Mac Jeffery said the lower figures do not represent manufacturing problems, but rather is another shift in expectations that have occurred over the past six months.
“We had, at the last minute, wanted to have one more turn of the crank on the software,” Jeffery said. He said Globalstar added some new features into the software that requires further testing, and therefore set back the production schedule.
Globalstar has contracted with providers Qualcomm Inc., L.M. Ericsson and Telital of Italy for handsets-to be met on a schedule of 40,000 handsets a month beginning in January-with hopes of improvement once production ramps up. About 10,000 phones are in distribution today, the company said, as part of its friendly user launch, initiated earlier in October.
Globalstar said it expects its base stations in Brazil, Italy, Argentina and possibly North America to begin operating in November, with China and South Africa operational in December. Security issues between the United States and Canada could hamper the North American base station launch date.
Analysts largely downplayed the lower handset figure, as Globalstar has not yet offered full commercial service. However, any handset production delays once the system goes fully commercial could hamper Globalstar’s efforts to distance itself from Iridium L.L.C.
Iridium was plagued by problems delivering handsets at the onset of its commercial launch, affecting subscribership to the point where it defaulted on its bank covenants, forcing it into bankruptcy.
