Frost and Sullivan Compare Globalstar and Iridium

CONSTELLATIONS

Iridium top, Globalstar lower

San Jose - Sep 19, 2002
In an independent technical study, Globalstar, the world's most widely-used handheld satellite phone service, has been shown to consistently outperform its main competitor in both voice and data transmission.

Independent research firm Frost & Sullivan tested both systems over several weeks, making hundreds of voice and data calls from different locations and under a variety of physical conditions to simulate typical usage of the phones in both urban and remote environments. Measurement criteria included:

Voice quality

Call completion

Call drop rates

Data throughput

A Quality of Service Comparison

Globalstar and Iridium: A Side-by-Side Performance Comparison Executive Summary Satellite phones are not a trivial investment. The cost of the phone, the per-minute charges and the phone's applicability to each end user's needs must be carefully weighed against the user's telecommunications requirements. A short search will show that there is ample evidence of a decline in the cost of handsets and per-minute charges.

Fortunately, this trend is expected to continue. Nonetheless, potential customers for satellite phones have had difficulty in obtaining significant comparative data on how each satellite phone system performs. The marketing materials provided by the service operators are important sources of information, yet nothing can really measure up to the ability to test each system side-by-side in a real world environment.

The following white paper is just that, the results of a rigorous testing of the true functionality of the latest equipment and services offered for the Iridium and Globalstar satellite phone systems. Many variables were evaluated and taken into account in this testing and the results demonstrate that there are a number of statistically significant differences between the two systems.

The most glaring distinction between the Iridium and Globalstar satellite phones noted by the more than ten individuals testing the equipment was that of audio quality during voice calls. It was universally observed and demonstrated in sampling after sampling that the Globalstar system had a far superior audio quality compared to the Iridium system.

Even under ideal conditions, the Globalstar phone outperformed the Iridium in the audio quality criteria. More importantly, the Iridium phone was rated as falling below mission critical quality on anywhere from 10% to 35% of its calls in the two more challenging test scenarios.

On the data side, both phones suffer from low data rates making web usage and data downloads difficult. Nonetheless, when comparing the phones against each other, the technical advantage that Globalstar has in data speed allowed this system to outperform Iridium. Most importantly, Globalstar achieved a 100% success rate in more than 80 download attempts compared to 70% for Iridium.

All in all, Globalstar beat out Iridium for voice calls in most measurements, most especially in audio quality. On the data side, Globalstar again outperforms Iridium on the majority of criteria in this category.

Introduction to the Evaluation

Despite the well-publicized financial problems, past and present, of Iridium and Globalstar, the fact is that both companies are operating their respective systems and offering services to clients worldwide. For those potential customers looking into the purchase of a satellite telephone, it is fair to ask, "which one will best suit my needs?" There are many criteria involved in answering this question, such as planned usage, handset cost, per-minute charges, quality of service, and each potential user will put different priority on each of these criteria.

One of the characteristics of satellite telephones amenable to quantitative investigation is that of "quality of service". The Satellite Communications Group of Frost & Sullivan, an international market intelligence and growth consulting company, undertook an end user comparison of the Iridium and Globalstar systems in order to determine their relative merits in terms of "quality of service".

Measurements taken, including call completion, audio quality, call drop, and data rate, have been statistically evaluated under numerous environments in order to provide an objective assessment of this particular comparative criteria.

The study has been designed primarily to examine the call and data service quality of these two satellite telephones. The methodology assumed a potential customer for a handheld satellite telephone with the need for making voice calls and simple data applications. The tests were designed around the idea of measuring, all else being equal, which satellite telephone system would provide a superior call and data capability.

CONSTELLATIONS

Globalstar Demos Dual Use Phone

San Jose - July 24, 2002
Globalstar has demonstrated a wireless phone that can use the same radio spectrum to connect to both satellite and terrestrial communications networks. If introduced commercially, this system could further increase the utility of satellite phones while at the same time making far more efficient use of existing radio spectrum.

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