Improved Emergency 911 Services for Globalstar Satellite Phones – Globalcom

Globalstar improves emergency 911 service to the United States and Canada

March 2005 – Globalstar the most widely used hand held satellite phone on the planet for both voice and data, has offered emergency 911 services to its customers since 1999. This was well before the Federal Communications Commission FCC required 911 services for all satellite phone providers. This requirement will be starting in February 2005. Providing emergency 911 will be a requirement for all mobile satellite service providers.

Globalstar is a pioneer in providing 911 emergency services for the last five years in the United States and Canada. It has been Globalstar’s commitment to offer this service since the company’s service launch in 1999. This service has recently been upgraded to provide a better response to emergency calls. All emergency calls are routed by Globalstar to a contactor’s call center. From this call center information from this call can be cross referenced to a North American wide Public Safety Answering Point or (PSAP) database provided by Spatial Data which is located in Irving, Texas. This information is sued to find the location of the closes PSAP of emergency answering point using address information or GPS map coordinates provided by the caller. Emergency personnel can be immediately dispatched to respond to the situation.

GPS readings can be obtained from a Globalstar phone while on an active call. Depending on which software version is in the Globalstar phone you can get a longitude and latitude reading by pressing a few keys on the keypad while on an active call. The longitude and latitude is then displayed on the phone with the amount of error. The reading is only accurate within a ten mile radius.

911 services are critical to Globalstar’s customers. Globalstar is pleased to be an industry leader in providing this needed service at no additional charge to its customers. Reliable communication to emergency services is a positive move forward for the satellite phone industry. Globalstar is committed to improve and continue to provide reliable communications to emergency services. Unlike Globalstar’s competition, Globalstar 911 service is not only available for its customer in the United States is also available to users everywhere in Canada.

Areas where Globalstar provides emergency 911 services include the United States, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Canada and Puerto Rico.

Spatial Data is one of the leading providers of location based information. They do this by integrating software, service and data information.

Globalstar offers both voice and data satellite communication from virtually anywhere in 120 countries.