Steve Symington
Why Globalstar Inc. Stock Plunged Nov 10
Shares of Globalstar, Inc. were down 14.5% the morning of Nov 10 after the satellite communications company revealed it is seeking to narrow its request in an ongoing Federal Communications Commission proceeding to allow Terrestrial Low Power Service (TLPS).
In Globalstar's third-quarter 2016 conference call recently, management had detailed its response to an interference report filed by Microsoft in the proceedings in September, arguing that Microsoft's methodology "included an extreme test setup and technical parameters that would never occur in any real-world deployment." Rather, when such testing was performed in a real-world deployment, Globalstar said at the time, "it is conclusive that TLPS peacefully coexists with unlicensed operations [and] poses no risk whatsoever to such services as Bluetooth and 2.4 Ghz WiFi systems." Today, though -- and noting Globalstar's original proposal was to allow its 11.5 MHz of licensed spectrum to be used with 10.5 MHz of unlicensed spectrum in the adjacent ISM band -- Globalstar revealed a narrower request in a statement.