Who would have believed that 5 years ago?
Globalstar was a struggling company, emerging like many others from the pandemic, with an aging satellite constellation, tons of debt, limited service capability (remember the Globalstar phone anyone?), stock at an all time low (around $5 compared to a high above $200 in the early 2000s), slow increasing revenues and continuous losses… The survival capability of the company was just amazing, but the clock was ticking..
FIve years later, Globalstar is back and striving like the new kid on the block. Revenues jumped to $250M in 2024 with further doubling on the corner, the stock quadrupled to around $20, there is continuoius growth in IoT subscribers (around 800K), a new constellation is under way, 5G is a new path to growth and the company will finally turn profitable.
How come???
Well, guess what, miracles happen but of course it’s better to help them.
In the case of Globastar, the white knight is called Apple. Or so we guess as in all the Globalstar documents, it is called “Our Customer” (with a capital C). To give an idea of the extent of the miracle, the deal (from public data) is over $2B from 2021 to 2024 only (probably more after) and covers development of a new constellation, usage fees, shares in a new company… Of course as in all space business, many risks remain but at least then financial situation seems to be stabilized for a time.
So what can we take from this story?
First, space is a long term business: not years, but decades in most cases. As Iridium and Orbcomm, Globalstar has finally found its path but it took much longer.
Second, Globalstar was and is still benefitting from spectrum in various bands that is becoming more valuable every year (same applies to Inmarsat, Echostar). Spectrum is a key asset in telecom and space companies are just lucky: they did not pay for that and are trying hard to extract whatever buck they can out of it..
Third, the company has shown a remarkable consistency in the developlment of its IoT line of products, adapted to the capability of its space infrastructure. A niche market (focus on low power, low cost), slow to take off but where Globalstar is now the leader. With time, this has finally paid off and with funding now available Globalstar can improve its portfolio and grow faster.
Last, while everything is slow in space (except for the rockets and Elon Musk), the fate of companies can change rapidly, in any direction. While the big GEO operators were the king of the hill in the past decades, this has dramatically changed with Starlink. The same may happen to Starlink with newcomers like Kuiper and the “Musk effect”… And 20 years ago, Iridium was a loser but has been resurected as well. Nothing is written for ever in the orbits…