Friday, 09 May 2014

Two-way Voice Communication Service in Globalstar has brought double-digit benefit

PARIS - Recovery mobile services satellite operator Globalstar, as noted may 09, 2014, characterized by double-digit growth in equipment sales and subscription revenue at its key service - two-way voice communication.

In the headquarters of the Globalstar (Covington city, Louisiana) , whose satellite group of the second generation put into orbit as of August 2013, believe that it is necessary to continue to increase revenues in the so-called duplex subscriber base, as these subscribers provide a high level of profit.

Services SPOT GPS positioning and emergency messages in Globalstar has also increased, in contrast to the simplex services (one-way communication) companies, where income fell.

There was a time when full duplex services collapsed since 2007, when the first generation satellite fleet Globalstar began to degrade. At that time, the Company managed to maintain the core of its customer base, offering a reduced rate of subscription packages mainly during their use.

With the restoration two-way communication, with the introduction of a new group of 24 satellites, Globalstar now cleans up its subscriber base from clients that do not pay the new, higher speed commensurate with the restored services. This makes calculation the growing number of subscribers more complex. On May 7, 2014 based on information on securities markets in the USA, Globalstar said that was deleted 26000 subscribers from their lists in the three months ending March 31.

The exception with 26000 subscribers resulted in reduction of the total subscriber base of subscribers duplex communication at 31 March compared with the previous year. However, with these closed accounts, Globalstar announced that its full-Duplex subscriber base inacreased by 1.4 percent, to 58053 subscribers in the past year.

For the three months, ended March 31, revenue from the sale of the duplex communication services grew by 21 percent, to $ 5.9 million Revenue from sales of handsets Globalstar increased by 22 percent over the same period, to $ 1.360.000.

The monthly income from the duplex communication averaged $ 33,75 per subscriber during the first three months of 2014 and grew by almost 20 percent.

Total Globalstar revenue during the first three months of 2014 was $ 20.5 million, up 6 percent compared with a year earlier.

Globalstar business develops mainly in North America, but with the recovery of global groups in orbit, it expands in Central and South America and in Europe, according to the company. To do this, company will need to build or activate the earth stations gateway around the world where it wants to attract subscribers.

Unlike competitor Iridium, Globalstar constellation has no inter-satellite communication links that transmit signals from one to another satellite, before the signal from the Board will be in the terrestrial network. This makes the Globalstar constellation is much cheaper when creating a network, but have to rely more on infrastructure in many countries.

The company said it has completed the renovation of the gateway in Brazil during the quarter, and expects that the Venezuelan gateway should be completed in June.

“International operations essentially for us now starts from scratch,” said chief Executive Globalstar administrator Jay Monroe on May 7, 2014 at the conference call with investors.

As in Iridium, the main flexible credit Globalstar associated with guarantee from export credit agencies of France - Coface. Thales Alenia Space of France and Italy built the Globalstar satellites. They were launched from Baikonur cosmodrome in the Russian missiles “Soyz” under the contract with the French Arianespace consortium.

During the conference call, Chief accountant Globalstar Rebecca Clary said that, to pay the debt on schedule, the company requires $ 20 million in cash in 2014. Projected capital expenditures, in particular for the ground infrastructure will require an additional $ 24 million in 2014.

The company's cash balance amounted to $ 19.6 million as at 31 March. Globalstar had a credit line for $ 24 million at its disposal, and $ 5 million from its main sponsor, Thermo Capital Partners, which is owned by Monroe and his family. Account with a balance of $ 38 million as at 31 March is reserved for payments under the facility Coface.

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