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by Anvi Anand
The Lawrenceville School, NJ
Globalstar, a mobile satellite services (MSS) company also known as GSAT in the stock world, has been constantly falling in value throughout this past year. According to MarketBeat, its stock was down 45% in October. But in a matter of two days into the fresh month of November, the company’s stock increased by a tremendous 53%! The major reason why GSAT made its comeback, back into the spotlight for investors, was due to its newest deal with Apple of 1.5 billion dollars.
Apple recently invested 1.5 billion dollars into Globalstar, originally investing $450 million back in 2022. Globalstar is known for its ground-based infrastructure, responsible for functions like commanding spacecraft, monitoring its positions and health, and collecting and distributing this data to users; as well as its low earth orbit (LEO) satellites that orbit close to the Earth, making the travel time for signals speedy with low latency in voice transmissions and internet access. The company enhances internet services in remote regions with lower-than-average cell coverage. For example, for situations like SOS and emergencies, secluded wildlife tracking, and distant commercial fishing, Globalstar’s satellite allows for faster communication from irregular networks. Apple’s newest models, iPhones 14 to 16 have the appropriate hardware to send SOS texts outside their normal network systems.
Image of Apple phone in front Globalstar logo
Reuters Staff. (2024, November 1). Apple to invest up to $1.5 bln in Globalstar for satellite coverage expansion. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/technology/apple-invest-up-15-bln-globalstar-satellite-coverage-expansion-2024-11-01/
In Apple’s latest plan with the company, the tech giant will buy 20% of the equity in Globalstar SPE, Globalstar’s subsidiary which holds other assets in MSS. With the rest of the money, Globalstar plans to fund more satellite initiatives and increase its constellation, currently having 48 LEO satellites covering 80% of the Earth’s surface, the 20% left being some mid-ocean ridges and Polar regions across the planet.
Like any other big tech company, Apple wants users to have the most reliable communication and connectivity, wherever they go. Emphasis on the “most”. Other huge competitors like T-Mobile’s SpaceX’s Starlink and Verizon and AT&T’s AST Space Mobile, are not any further from tackling this superlative, so what’s so special about Globalstar? Well, Globalstar specializes in connectivity for extremely remote locations and has been operational over a wider scale with reliability. It’s more niche for areas where low-bandwidth data transmission is used. GSAT also has a more affordable stock price and is a convenient choice in areas where it has already established services. Other satellite companies like Space Mobile focus more on broad internet access and have not been as integrated into devices directly, still in the brainstorming and making phases. However, neck-to-neck rival Star Link seems to be ahead of all that. Its rapidly improving technology has a denser satellite constellation with global coverage in both normal and remote regions, ultra-low latency as low as 10 milliseconds, and has allegedly made Globalstar's capabilities look “outdated”.
The fueling competition between these two satellite companies is long over and our future may end up becoming the futuristic, cyberpunk world we have all envisioned at least once in our lives. As the global workforce continues to become more mobile, the demand for mobile satellite services will only increase in the next decade.
Power duo GSAT and AAPL (Apple Inc) are ready to tackle this challenge with their new plan and fulfill the increasing demand for satellite-based internet from a unique light—carrying on Apple’s famous slogan, “Think Different”.
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Sawers, P. (2024, December). Apple will invest $1.5 billion in Globalstar to expand satellite services. CNET. Retrieved from https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/apple-will-invest-1-5-billion-in-globalstar-to-expand-satellite-services/
MarketBeat. (2024). Globalstar: The next big satellite winner after deal with Apple. Retrieved from https://www.marketbeat.com/stock-ideas/globalstar-the-next-big-satellite-winner-after-deal-with-apple/
Encyclopedia.com. (n.d.). Ground infrastructure. Retrieved December, 2024, from https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/ground-infrastructure#:~:text=The%20ground%2Dbased%20infrastructure%20for,distributing%20these%20data%20to%20users
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