spacetoday.net: Globalstar warns of satellite problems

Posted: Wed, Feb 7, 2007, 5:59 AM ET (1059 GMT)
Globalstar satellite illustration

Mobile satellite telephony company Globalstar warned investors late Monday that a problem with its satellite fleet could cause service outages as soon as next year. In a filing with the SEC, the company said that the degradation of the amplifiers in the S-band antennas on its spacecraft, a problem the company had been monitoring for some time, has accelerated. The company now believes that, without a fix, the problem will create service outages and other problems by some point next year. The company is already planning to launch eight replacement satellites this year, and announced a contract last year with Alcatel Alenia Space to begin work on a new generation of spacecraft, but those spacecraft are not expected to be ready for service until late 2009. Shares in Globalstar, which conducted an IPO on the Nasdaq exchange last year, fell over 25 percent in trading Tuesday.