5 years ago: Globalstar unveils satellite phones

12.10.99: Globalstar launches its mobile satellite phone service at the Telecom 99 show in Geneva.

The company promises widespread coverage across the globe - everywhere but the polar ice caps.

Globalstar chairman and CEO Bernard Schwartz maintained an upbeat tone about his firm's prospects: "There's never been a telco that's gone broke." He then called the amount of people around the world without telecoms services "a tremendous opportunity".

The company says service will be available to subscribers from a network of over 200 service providers including Vodafone AirTouch and China Telecom.

Commenting on switching between cell phone operators and his service, Schwartz said: "Cell systems are not our enemies. They're our allies."

12.10.04: The satellite phone market got off to a rough start. Even as Schwartz unveiled Globalstar's offerings five years ago, fellow satellite service and phone provider Iridium had had a poor launch and subsequently filed for bankruptcy while ICO Global Communications suffered similar woes.

Globalstar went on to file for bankruptcy itself in 2001 after failing to make a profit.

Investments from the likes of Qualcomm have helped keep the company afloat. It's still in business today selling mobile and satellite phones and service for both voice and data. It boasts 123,000 subscribers in over 120 countries.

As Schwartz declared, Globalstar has worked with mobile phone operators. It now offers phones that allow users to switch between mobile and satellite networks so they can place calls from nearly anywhere.