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Saudi Arabia Added To Globalstar's Worldwide Mobile Satellite Services Network
First Gateway to be Built in Riyadh
NEW YORK, September 8, 1997 -- Adding one of the last major subscriber markets to the family of Globalstar's worldwide satellite telecommunications system, Globalstar, LP (NASDAQ:GSTRF) and the Trans Arab Telecom Company (TATCOM) of Riyadh today announced an agreement to give TATCOM the exclusive rights to provide advanced global mobile telephony services throughout the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia beginning in late 1998.
Saudi Arabia is one of Globalstar's primary subscriber market areas to join its growing list of service provider territories. Its addition brings to 105 the number of countries with service provider agreements, providing Globalstar access to more than 85 percent of its projected 2002 subscriber base of three million more than a full year before service is due to begin.
"The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia represents an important market and a key ingredient in our strategy to provide satellite-based services throughout the Middle East and the world," said Bernard L. Schwartz, chairman and chief executive officer of Globalstar and Loral Space & Communications, which leads the international Globalstar venture. "We believe this agreement cements Globalstar's position as a service provider within the Middle East."
Rafat Ahmad Turki, chairman of TATCOM, expressed his enthusiasm in becoming part of the Globalstar family, and in being the exclusive provider of these services in Saudi Arabia at the same time they become available in the rest of the world.
Under the service agreement, TATCOM, a Saudi company jointly owned by Dallah Telecom (part of the Dallah Al Baraka Group) and Saudi Arabian Trading and Construction Co. (SATCO), will own the sole right to Globalstar services in Saudi Arabia. TATCOM will also own the rights to operate any Globalstar gateway (ground station) there. Saudi Arabia's initial Globalstar gateway, planned to be located in Riyadh, will serve the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and could serve other Gulf region nations as well.
The $2.5 billion Globalstar system, comprising 48 low-earth-orbit (LEO) satellites and a global network of ground stations, will allow people around the world to make or receive calls using hand-held, vehicle-mounted and fixed-site terminals. Globalstar will also provide data transmission, messaging, facsimile and position location services.
Subscribers in Saudi Arabia will use mobile terminals, similar to today's cellular phones, with dual-mode capability so they will be able to switch from satellite telephony to conventional cellular telephony as required. As well as using mobile terminals, some users in rural and remote areas may make or receive calls through fixed-site telephones, similar either to phone booths or ordinary wireline telephones. Subscriber terminals will communicate through a Globalstar satellite to one of Saudi Arabia's gateways that in turn will connect calls into the existing telecommunications network.
TATCOM is a joint venture between Dallah Telecom and SATCO. The Dallah Group is a $6 billion, Jeddah-based, multinational corporation whose 260 subsidiary companies with interests in banking are active in satellite broadcasting, telecommunications services, import/export, and other areas.
SATCO is a Riyadh-based firm with general contracting, operations and maintenance, health and leisure, and other areas of operations.
Globalstar, led by Loral Space & Communications, is a partnership of the world's leading telecommunications service providers and equipment manufacturers, and includes QUALCOMM Incorporated, AirTouch Communications, Alcatel, Alenia, DACOM, Daimler-Benz Aerospace, Elsag Bailey, France Telecom, Hyundai, Space Systems/Loral and Vodafone. For more information, visit Globalstar's web site at www.globalstar.com.
Loral Space & Communications, headquartered in New York City, is a high technology company that primarily concentrates on satellite manufacturing and satellite-based services. In addition to having 100 percent ownership of Space Systems/Loral, Loral owns Loral Skynet, a leading U.S. satellite communications service provider that owns and operates the Telstar satellites, and manages and holds a 38 percent equity interest in Globalstar.
Loral also is the developer of CyberStarx, a geostationary satellite-based, open-protocol, digital telecommunications system that will offer a variety of low-cost, high-speed, data and telecommunications services worldwide, initially from leased Ku-band transponders, and subsequently through a dedicated constellation of geosynchronous Ka-band satellites.
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