Satellite Player Skyterra Ready to Try Again
After winning the right to offer a satellite and cellular-based mobile voice and data service, raising $500 million in capital and restructuring its ownership, Skyterra (formerly Mobile Satellite Ventures) is getting ready for what it hopes will be two game-changing years. The company will launch a new satellite in 2009, and in 2010, it will see Qualcomm integrate radios into its cellular chips that can communicate with Skyterra’s satellite network. Skyterra may also complete a merger with Inmarsat, if regulators sign off on it. This all means Skyterra would have both the ability to provide service, and a reasonably priced device on which to provide it. But there’s still the issue of building a viable business model. To date, satellite phones (and service) have been niche products, and the companies providing service have a tumultuous history of investment and bankruptcy. But Chris Gates, vice president of strategy with Skyterra, says this time it’s going to be different. While Skyterra will still provide service to governments and people in remote locations - the traditional market - it will also seek to sell satellite coverage to cellular network operators as a service differentiator. The approach would essentially gives cellular carriers the ability to offer satellite coverage to customers for a fee.