Globalstar Inc (GSAT)

[Raffis]

READ EVERYTHING:

Look at pages 5, 7, 10, 15 and 17-32 in the link, below, for starters:

https://www.globalstar.com/Globalstar/media/Globalstar/Downloads/Spectrum/GlobalstarOverviewPresentation.pdf

“Why Do We Need C-Band?
The state of 5G in the US is pretty rough right now. For 5G to offer an experience that's noticeably better than 4G, it needs broad, dedicated channels, ideally 50MHz or wider. For 5G to cover entire cities, it needs to be on a frequency below about 6GHz, so it can get decent range from towers. Right now, AT&T and Verizon aren't using any airwaves that fit these bills. Verizon may be able to pull something together using the new CBRS airwaves just below the C-Band, but the jury's still out on that. So by and large, AT&T and Verizon are delivering 5G that's either no faster than LTE would be on the same frequencies or has poor range.
The iPhone 12 family are the first phones approved by the FCC for C-Band.
The iPhone 12 series are the first US phones approved by the FCC for C-Band. The Google Pixel 5 has C-Band on its spec sheet, but it hasn't been approved for use on C-Band by the FCC yet. The same goes for many foreign phones; they may have n77 or n78, but they haven't been cleared for US use on those frequencies by the FCC.
I expect the Samsung Galaxy S21 and many other phones released in 2021 will support C-Band.”
https://www.pcmag.com/news/what-is-c-band
Qualcomm today announced its X65 modem, the 4G/5G component that will connect 2022's phones to carrier networks. The new modem allows for "10 gigabit" 5G connectivity, by expanding the number of 5G channels it can use at once. But there's a lot more going on here, which could further transform how we use 5G.
Qualcomm's modems are used in nearly every high-end phone in the US, including those from Samsung and Apple. Apple inked a "multiyear" deal with Qualcomm in 2019, to cover at least the iPhone 12, 13, and 14 models, after which it may (or may not) start using modems it develops itself.
https://www.pcmag.com/news/qualcomms-x65-modem-might-pull-the-iphone-13-to-10gbps
C-band spectrum: https://youtu.be/fXemKPM8HQ4
https://www.globalstar.com/Globalstar/media/Globalstar/Downloads/Spectrum/GlobalstarOverviewPresentation.pdf
“Band n53 is the Globalstar band that is supported by Qualcomm’s new 5G X65 modem. In Thermo, Pivotal and Globalstar share the same investor. Globalstar Executive Chairman Jay Monroe III has been the majority owner of Thermo Companies since the founding in 1984.”
“Kyle Pickens, Vice President of Strategy at Globalstar and Partner at Thermo Companies, said “The number of opportunities we are currently pursuing for our terrestrial spectrum and the support we are receiving from international regulators and our ecosystem partners are all moving in the right direction. In the following paragraphs, we will explain certain current target opportunities and how the markets for Globalstar’s spectrum assets are developing generally. These views are enhanced by Thermo's current portfolio and partners, including FiberLight, Lumen, Pivotal Commware, Airspan, Recon and XCOM Labs. Nearly all of the Thermo investments over recent years are meant to directly help Globalstar maximize its potential which has proven to be a helpful strategy thus far.”   
Globalstar passed an important milestone recently when the New York Power Authority announced they are trialing Band 53 in their new private wireless network. We believe our spectrum is well-suited for their applications and are hopeful that Band 53 will ultimately be chosen within this new network. The utility industry is a logical early adopter of private wireless networks because they can leverage their already substantial infrastructure and require high levels of security and reliability. In fact, today we are being actively considered for a large-scale utility project in the Southwest in which Qualcomm provided helpful analysis for this project. The utility is trying to consolidate many disparate networks into a single private network and believes Band 53 could be a valuable resource.
Shipping, Logistics and Mining are other industries pushing private wireless networks, LTE now and 5G soon, in an effort to reduce operating costs and improve efficiencies. We announced last quarter that Globalstar won a small West Coast port deployment and are now pursuing a second port opportunity where we expect a trial to begin in the near-term. This opportunity is with a global operator who is planning to deploy similar networks, utilizing Nokia equipment, across their operations in several countries. Only Globalstaroffers the potential for globally harmonized spectrum for their purposes. We are also working with additional logistics companies planning to remotely control or fully automate their equipment. It has been determined by these companies that unlicensed spectrum is not a reliable enough alternative and they need to rely on licensed spectrum such as Band 53. Mining operations are high value, but dangerous, leading companies to pursue automation where possible. This necessitates reliable, secure and now more frequently, private wireless connectivity. We are pursuing Band 53 deployments at mines in both the Western United States and South Africa. These early private wireless deployments help push the Band 53/n53 ecosystem forward and generate cash flow but, importantly, do not foreclose the broader more traditional spectrum deals which we are pursuing.
In recent weeks several announcements from the major technology companies have highlighted the value of Globalstar’s collection of spectrum assets. The Amazon Sidewalk initiative made us return to Qualcomm’s inside/out small cell analysis which showed that with household penetration of just 20% in a neighborhood, 96% of data traffic could be offloaded from the macro network. While a carrier’s interest in this is fairly obvious, other entrants could use this model for new applications like security or other IoT services. This analysis assumed a spectrum resource very similar to ours and deployment at lower power levels than the levels at which we are authorized to operate. As compelling as Qualcomm’s analysis is, it has yet to result in significant deployments for several reasons. First, this is a logical deployment for cable companies who are already in most residences, but their wireless ambitions have not fully matured. Speculation is that they have remained focused on Wi-Fi due to the lower equipment cost and are currently pleased to leverage their MVNO relationships. This paradigm may change soon with expected CBRS deployments by cable companies and lower cost 5G equipment driven by ORAN initiatives. We also expect Pivotal Commware’s new repeater technology to drive greater competition for the home broadband business from the wireless carriers with mmWave spectrum like Verizon’s.
Brian Deutsch, CEO of Pivotal Commware, said of Globalstar’s Band n53, “Pivotal is focused on providing solutions that enable operators to lower TCO and accelerate time-to-market for mmWave 5G deployment, but our breakthrough Holographic Beam Forming products include offerings in Globalstar’s Band 53 and C-band spectrum. Where fiber doesn’t make economic sense to deploy, those with mmWave spectrum and our smart repeaters are able to reach those homes or enterprises and compete favorably with cable. Pivotal is building a US-based global technology company leveraging leadership in mmWave, but we believe Globalstar’s Band n53 offers a unique and complementary resource and we look forward to helping them commercialize this asset alongside our products. This includes providing private LTE/5G in homes and enterprises where Pivotal deploys its mmWave network elements.”
Globalstar’s Band n53 with new low-cost smart 5G nodes could offer any of the fiber-rich mobile network operators, cable companies or those utilizing new advanced Fixed Wireless Networks the opportunity to leverage their previous capex to build new 5G consumer and enterprise networks from the “inside-out.” A recent report from industry analyst Jonathan Chaplin says that the cable companies and telcos collectively reach approximately 80 million households with fiber. AT&T, Verizon and Comcast together reach just under 50 million households. At an average of 2.5 people per household, they are connected to approximately 125 million people, or more than 1/3 of the entire US population. Globalstar’s Band n53 could anchor a new neighborhood and enterprise inside-out 5G network, increasing the value created from the significant embedded capital investment in fiber for any or all of these companies. This could either be done in partnership with one or more of the existing wireless and fiber companies or with a new disruptor with established consumer relationships.
While Globalstar’s close partner Airspan was an early leader in economical small cell deployments through their customers Sprint, Rakuten and Reliance Jio, Nokia and Qualcomm also recently announced a new Smart Node portfolio of All-In-One base stations for 5G indoor use. The platform is designed to deliver ubiquitous indoor 5G coverage for residential and enterprise networks. As with Airspan, these new 5G Smart Nodes are meant to offer flexibility at an unmatched price point.
One obstacle to the commercial deployment of densification of networks with traditional small cells has been that with increased density there are too many overlapping cells and cell boundaries leading to diminishing returns as the noise floor at the cell edges increases. We are working closely with the XCOM Labs team, founded by the former leadership of Qualcomm, to implement innovative technical solutions to these issues. They are developing a Distributed Unit which addresses these interference and related issues, resulting in a material improvement in capacity from n53 (in certain environments as much as 5x-10x). We are working closely with XCOM Labs on potential deployments for Band n53 in dense small cell environments where the increase in capacity is most meaningful.
Paul Jacobs, Founder & CEO of XCOM Labs said, “Future wireless networks will be increasingly dense to provide the capacity and latency required of 5G and eventually 6G applications. Globalstar’s spectrum resources, Band n53 now and potentially C-Band later, offer XCOM Labs the opportunity to roll out a global strategy with a significant competitive advantage over our competition.”
In summary, Globalstar has made progress in better positioning the spectrum asset to be commercially available with great partners that are at the cutting edge of wireless technologies. They see value in the resource and we obviously agree.”
https://investors.globalstar.com/news-releases/news-release-details/globalstar-receives-terrestrial-authorization-canada-brazil-and/
https://www.fiercewireless.com/tech/pivotal-raises-50m-c-round“C-Band (3.7-4.2 MHz) is part of this band and as such, it is highly desired by would-be 5G carriers. C-Band has been historically assigned to satellite services, but some regulators are repurposing (or planning to do so) the spectrum for 5G. While some regions like Western Europe make light use of C-Band, other areas like the U.S. and Asia heavily rely on this band. In the U.S. alone, there are 120 million households dependent on C-Band for reception of programming content. The interests of these consumers and the billions of dollars that they represent in the economy need to be protected.”
https://www.nsr.com/repurposing-spectrum-for-5g-where-is-the-balance/
“The FCC's C-band auction of a massive 280MHz of spectrum – spanning 5,684 midband licenses between 3.7GHz and 3.98GHz – is scheduled to start December 8. 5G operators such as Verizon are vibrating with anticipation.
After all, it's likely to be a blockbuster event: Some analysts expect the auction to become the FCC's biggest ever, surpassing even the $45 billion raised in 2015 by the AWS-3 spectrum auction.
...all eyes are on the C-band auction because it is the first big auction of valuable, unencumbered midband spectrum licenses in the US. Such spectrum is highly prized among 5G network operators globally that are looking for a balance between broad geographic reach and blazing-fast speeds.”
https://www.lightreading.com/security/what-to-expect-from-c-band-auction-for-5g-spectrum/d/d-id/765917
Altice, Globalstar and Viasat forsake C-band auction
“Although Altice USA, Globalstar and Viasat initially registered interest in the FCC's C-band spectrum auction, they are not among the 57 entities that are participating in the event.
"We think C-band will be highly sought after for 5G buildouts, especially by those lacking significant low- and midband holdings," wrote the financial analysts at Raymond James. They noted that they expect the final 57 qualified bidders in the auction – down from an initial 74 registrants – to generate a total of around $30 billion in bids.”
List of actual bidders at C-band auction:
GlobalStar and Qualcomm didn’t need to attend.  Globalstar owns the C-Band.  Qualcomm bought it from Globalstar:

https://www.lightreading.com/iot/the-full-list-here-are-actual-bidders-in-c-band-auction/d/d-id/764793

Giles Thorne, an equity analyst at Jefferies Financial Group, estimates that Intelsat and SES would each pocket around $3.3 billion “time discounted and post all clearing costs.” Telesat would likely collect around $440 million, assuming the Canadian operator’s stake was the same as former member Eutelsat, Thorne said by email. 
Those numbers could be higher, though. 
“Everybody is trying to make an assessment on what the likely probability of some type of outcome is,” Turpin said. “There are possible outcomes here that are [in the] tens of billions of dollars range.”
ACA Connects, a collection of cable and internet providers that has its own C-band plan, has estimated the value of the full 500 megahertz at up to $60 billion. 
Bill Tillson, executive chairman at Encompass Digital Media, a television broadcast company that leases capacity from Intelsat and SES, estimated that those two operators, plus Telesat, collectively could gain $34 billion by selling C-band spectrum. Satellite operators may not get to pocket that full amount though, he said. 
“Politicians that have jumped in and said some portion of that ought to come back to [the U.S. government], so I don’t think this is over yet, Tillson said.
The C-Band Alliance has previously said that some of any proceeds would have to go toward new satellites and other capital expenditures that would be needed to provide the same level of service with 200 megahertz less C-band spectrum than they currently have. That infrastructure investment would involve several new satellites, spectrum filters for satellite dishes on the ground, centralizing teleport operations and more. 

https://spacenews.com/satellite-c-band-is-worth-billions-but-how-many/

GlobalStar 2.4GHz, C-Band and n53 
ARE PERFECT FOR 5G AND 6G DEPLOYMENT:  
The Globalstar terrestrial band provides 11.5 MHz (3.7 Billion MHz-POP) across the entire United States. As a resource for LTE networks, Globalstar 2.4 GHz is unique in its support of small cell deployment. Small cell dominated network topologies are essential to meeting consumers' growing wireless data demands. However, sharing spectrum across both macro and small cell layers in other bands introduces interference limitations that severely compromise network performance. Globalstar licensed 2.4 GHz provides a unique opportunity for operators to dedicate high quality spectrum exclusively to capacity-producing small cell infrastructure. 

The band holds physical, regulatory and ecosystem qualities that distinguish it from other current and anticipated allocations. Most significantly, the spectrum is readily compatible with existing chipset architectures.
 
https://www.globalstar.com/en-us/corporate/initiatives/spectrum

“Paul Jacobs, Founder & CEO of XCOM Labs said, “Future wireless networks will be increasingly dense to provide the capacity and latency required of 5G and eventually 6G applications. Globalstar’s spectrum resources, Band n53 now and potentially C-Band later, offer XCOM Labs the opportunity to roll out a global strategy with a significant competitive advantage over our competition.”  https://investors.globalstar.com/news-releases/news-release-details/globalstar-receives-terrestrial-authorization-canada-brazil-and/

GLOBALSTAR ALSO TRANSMITS THROUGH  “Pivotal Commware” REPEATERS: 

We also expect Pivotal Commware’s new repeater technology to drive greater competition for the home broadband business from the wireless carriers with mmWave spectrum like Verizon’s.
Brian Deutsch, CEO of Pivotal Commware, said of Globalstar’s Band n53, “Pivotal is focused on providing solutions that enable operators to lower TCO and accelerate time-to-market for mmWave 5G deployment, but our breakthrough Holographic Beam Forming products include offerings in Globalstar’s Band 53 and C-band spectrum. Where fiber doesn’t make economic sense to deploy, those with mmWave spectrum and our smart repeaters are able to reach those homes or enterprises and compete favorably with cable. Pivotal is building a US-based global technology company leveraging leadership in mmWave, but we believe Globalstar’s Band n53 offers a unique and complementary resource and we look forward to helping them commercialize this asset alongside our products. This includes providing private LTE/5G in homes and enterprises where Pivotal deploys its mmWave network elements.”

https://investors.globalstar.com/news-releases/news-release-details/globalstar-receives-terrestrial-authorization-canada-brazil-and/


Globalstar Signs Second-Generation Ground Core Network System Agreement With Ericsson NYSE:GSAT

https://www.ericsson.com/en/press-releases/6/2020/verizon-ericsson-and-qualcomm-first-in-the-world-to-achieve-5g-peak-speed-of-5.06-gbps

Globalstar Addresses the Connected Car Market with New Division - Via Satellite -