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Feb. 23, 2009

In an effort at increasing its market share, Iridium Satellite has announced it will once again offer Trade-Up to Iridium because of the much-publicized service degradation of Globalstar’s satellite voice network.

Iridium's new program offers pricing incentives for users trading up from Globalstar to Iridium Satellite handsets and service.

On Feb. 5, and in a filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission, Globalstar indicated many of the company’s forty satellites have significantly degraded and its customers could lose voice and data services by early 2010.

Don Thoma, vice president at marketing for Iridium said “overall, Iridium’s main goal is to ensure that satellite phone users have access to consistently reliable global satellite coverage. Our network is now recognized to be the only satellite communications service that dependably provides a critical communications lifeline everywhere.”

However, a Globalstar spokesperson said the company is working on upgrading its network and will once again provide "reliable coverage" to its customers.

“This is a promotion that was launched in late 2007 and received little significant traction, therefore we would not expect anything different this time around,” the spokesperson said. “Since we are just about to launch our new satellites, there seems little incentive for anyone to trade our phone for an Iridium phone, considering it is far more expensive to buy and to use than ours.”

Beginning Monday, any Globalstar satellite phone user is eligible to trade in a handset for an Iridium satellite phone. The program is available to any end user from any market until Sept. 30.

Offered in Oct. 2008, the original program was available to government users, first responders, educational institutions and relief organizations. The program has been expanded due to wide interest from non-public-sector customers.

Iridium service providers that wish to participate in the new program can offer credits of up to $400 on a new Iridium 9505-A satellite phone to customers turning in an existing Globalstar handset.

Customers who sign up for a qualified Iridium calling plan could also receive up to $300 in airtime credits.

“This is an excellent opportunity to trade-up to Iridium if your satellite phone must serve as a reliable, critical lifeline,” Thoma said.

Iridium offers satellite coverage across the globe. The company serves the Department of Defense and other U.S. and international government agencies.

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Source: Iridium Satellite.