TerreStar (NASDAQ:TSTR) successfully launched its broadband communications satellite into orbit on Tuesday. TerreStar-1 now joins ICO Global (NASDAQ:ICOG) and Globalstar’s (NASDAQ:GSAT) communications hubs in geosynchronous orbit, each waiting to link up with promised terrestrial broadband networks back on Earth.
TerreStar is one of the satellite communications companies granted permission to use its satellite spectrum for dual-purposes: beaming signals from the heavens as well as on the ground through an ancillary terrestrial component (ATC). TerreStar’s ATC will be a high-speed packet access (HSPA) network built by Nokia Siemens Networks (NYSE:NOK, NYSE:SI) that will provide mobile broadband coverage in urban canyons where TerreStar’s devices won’t have a clear view of the sky, but in the great open spaces of the US and Canada, the satellite will provide the primary access link.
TerreStar’s extraterrestrial neighbors have taken slightly different approaches to their ATC spectrum. ICO is building what will primarily be a mobile TV network with a return channel using a variation of digital video broadcast-handheld (DVB-H) technology. It is building 1500 to 2000 terrestrial transmission sites across the country to augment the satellite signal of the ICO G-1. Globalstar is also doing satellite broadband but instead of building its own terrestrial network, it is partnering with ground-based carriers to build WiMax networks using Globalstar’s spectrum. The first of those carrier partners is Open Range Communications.
So far, TerreStar has been mum about the progress of its own HSPA network. The company has said it plans to build only in areas where it finds local carrier, government and public saftey partners, but it has yet to announce any.