Globalstar (News - Alert), Inc – a leading provider of mobile satellite voice and data services to businesses, government, and consumers – has just announced the timetable for the inaugural launch of its six new second-generation Globalstar satellites.

Oct. 19th has been scheduled for this inaugural launch for which the company is going to use the highly reliable Soyuz as launch vehicle. All six Globalstar satellites are currently undergoing pre-launch assembly, integration and testing at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

The Soyuz launch vehicle has been used to successfully launch Globalstar satellites on eight previous occasions. The forthcoming launch---comprising total four launches carrying six satellites each---will be conducted by launch services provider Arianespace (News - Alert). 

The company plans to integrate the 24 new second-generation satellites with the eight first-generation satellites that were launched in 2007, to form a 32 satellite constellation. The new constellation is expected to secure Globalstar's space segment beyond 2025.

The Globalstar customers, who use the company's voice and Duplex data services, will immediately start enjoying improved services as soon as the six new Globalstar satellites are in operational orbit. With each subsequent launch, these customers can expect a progressive return to the high reliability and service quality enjoyed before 2007.

Once fully deployed, the advanced second-generation constellation and next-generation ground network are designed to provide Globalstar customers with enhanced services. These include among others, an increased data speeds of up to 256 kbps in a flexible Internet protocol multimedia subsystem (IMS) configuration.

Products and services supported are expected to include: push-to-talk and multicasting, advanced messaging capabilities such as multimedia messaging or MMS, mobile video, geo-location services, multi-band and multi-mode handsets, and data devices with GPS integration. The second-generation satellites are also designed to support Globalstar's current lineup of voice, Duplex and Simplex data products and services including the Company's lineup of SPOT retail consumer products.

“In just 42 days we plan to begin launching and deploying our second-generation satellite constellation, years ahead of our primary competition. Once the new constellation is fully deployed next year, we expect that competitive advantage will have expanded to as many as six years or more. We will also once again reliably provide the world's finest quality mobile satellite voice and fastest mobile satellite handset data services to commercial and government customers in more than 120 countries. Combined with our affordable and award-winning suite of consumer retail SPOT products, Globalstar will unquestionably offer the world's most extensive lineup of high quality mobile satellite services to the broadest range of commercial and retail consumer customers around the globe,” Tony Navarra, president, Global Operations for Globalstar, Inc., said.