Globalstar Coverage Map

Globalstar is an innovative satellite and mobile terrestrial connectivity services provider, offering low latency, affordable, reliable, and secure communications for IoT and asset tracking applications.

Operating 48 low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites at an orbit height of 1,400 km and 24 ground stations across six continents, Globalstar offers 80% coverage of the Earth’s surface, a low latency of 60 ms, and provides communication services to over 120 countries worldwide.

Innovators in IoT and Tracking Solutions

Globalstar is an international telecommunications infrastructure provider utilizing licensed mid-band spectrum across their satellite and terrestrial connectivity services. The LEO satellite constellation uses S-Band and L-Band for communicating with mobile assets and C-Band for communications with the ground gateways.

Unlike Iridium’s LEO satellite network, which behaves as a mesh, Globalstar’s satellites do not communicate with each other and can only transmit data when they pass over a terrestrial gateway. This is why Globalstar does not provide total global coverage. However, their 24 Globalstar Gateways located around the world, including seven in North America, provide communication coverage in over 120 countries and for 99% of the population.

In fact, Globalstar Gateways are the largest cellular base stations in the world and have the capacity to hold 10,000 concurrent phone calls over a coverage area of approximately 50% the size of the U.S.

Globalstar supports CDMA technology between their satellites and terrestrial gateways. In practice, this means that if you are in suboptimal conditions for communication, such as mountainous terrain or a canyon, your device connection may be sending data to two satellites via two gateways to provide an uninterrupted service. This effective design solution reduces latency and enables Globalstar to upgrade their systems with the latest technology from the ground.

Local Phone Numbers

Via their terrestrial gateways positioned across the globe, Globalstar can offer their customers local network and national numbering plans, unlike other LEO systems that only offer international dialing for calls. This enables Globalstar customers to take advantage of attractive low-cost local dialing and pricing plans.

Pioneering Commercial Direct-to-Device Communications

In 2022, Globalstar partnered with Apple to bring emergency SOS satellite messaging connectivity to the iPhone 14 and iPhone 15 range, marking the first time satellite communication has been available to handset owners on a large scale. It is anticipated that the release of iOS 18 in late 2024 will expand the handset functionality to include satellite messaging whenever Wi-Fi or mobile networks are unavailable.

Globalstar is committed to meeting the demands of direct-to-device connectivity in a range of sectors and use cases. They are investing in developing IoT products and solutions that can take advantage of satellite and wireless technologies by introducing two-way modules and NTN standardization.

View the Globalstar product range here.