Globalstar satellite coverage begins in Nigeria

Top provider of mobile satellite voice and data services to businesses and government, Globalstar Incorporated, announced on Monday that it has installed a Simplex data application at its new gateway ground station in Kaduna State.

The application installation completes the $10 million (N1.36 billion) satellite gateway construction, which will provide Globalstar satellite coverage to Nigeria, and surrounding western and central African countries, including parts of the coastal Atlantic and the Gulf of Guinea maritime region. Globalstar's independent service provider, Globaltouch West Africa Limited (GWAL) with headquarters in Lagos, Nigeria, will operate the gateway located in Kaduna State.

"We are very pleased to be working with our new Nigeria partner, Globaltouch West Africa, as we launch coverage and once again broaden the market for our high quality Simplex data M2M enterprise solutions and our award-winning SPOT Satellite GPS Messenger products," said Marty Neilsen, Vice President, New Business Ventures, Globalstar Inc.

With the new gateway, Globalstar and Globaltouch will provide expanded continuous satellite coverage from Europe southward to most of Angola, west to the Atlantic coast maritime region and east to Sudan.

"We expect this oil-rich and heavily populated nation plus the surrounding region to be highly suited for our unique mix of enterprise and consumer mobile satellite solutions. The completion of this gateway is a testament to our partnership with Globaltouch and it also further demonstrates our international commitment to expand the geographic territory of where we market all of our high value products and services," Mr. Neilsen added.

From this week, Globaltouch will commence the offer of Globalstar's Simplex data solutions for a variety of logistics, supply chain management and government asset tracking applications plus SPOT Satellite GPS Messenger(TM) tracking and messaging products and services for both enterprise and consumer applications.

I.A. Mohammed, managing director of Globaltouch, said: "Globaltouch is excited to be bringing Globalstar's satellite services to Nigeria and the surrounding countries. We are proud and honoured to have Globalstar, Inc., with its global experience, as a partner in this venture. Globaltouch will have at its disposal Globalstar's immense experience and reputation as a satellite service provider and this will be utilised to successfully deploy service in Nigeria."

Nigeria's ICT potential

Nigeria has witnessed tremendous growth in Information and Communication Technology in the last 10 years but a lot still needs to be done. Currently, it has the largest telecommunication subscriber base on the continent, and is among the countries with the fastest-growing telecommunication industries worldwide. This implies a huge base for more hi-tech innovations and value added services that will ultimately lead to cost savings, improved productivity, quicker service and access to information.

Globaltouch says it plans to offer Globalstar's entire suite of current and next-generation advanced satellite voice and duplex-data solutions after the launch of the Globalstar second-generation (2G) constellation which is expected to begin next year.

The Simplex data application will be used to provide Globalstar Simplex data services. The Simplex application will offer low cost, one-way satellite data service that provides personal tracking and messaging solutions for commercial and recreational customers using products such as the SPOT Satellite GPS Messenger. Customers can also use Simplex data satellite modems and integrated back office management solutions to track mobile assets - such as vehicles, trailers, cargo containers and maritime vessels, using GPS or other location-based software.

Simplex data service can also be used for a wide variety of industrial and security applications to monitor and send information from fixed assets, such as environmental measuring instruments, utility metres, or report the state of various mobile sensor devices and their locations.