LTE -- What Voice Services?     by Jose Deras       Home         Topics: Main | 2004 | 2003 |2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999 | 1998 | 1997   Terrestar-1 -- World's Largest Commercial Satellite -- Enters Orbit Terrestar-1, the largest and most powerful commercial satellite to date, was successfully launched into geostationary orbit aboard an Ariane 5 rocket from the spaceport in French Guiana. TerreStar-1 will be located at an orbital position of 111 deg. West, offering integrated satellite and terrestrial mobile services across the United States and Canada using conventionally-sized dual mode handsets. The hybrid satellite/terrestrial architecture ensures mobile coverage in rural areas across the continent or in cases where the conventional terrestrial services become unavailable. The satellite, which weighs a record 6,910 kg and was built at Space Systems/Loral's Palo Alto, California facility, operates in two 10-Mhz blocks of contiguous MSS spectrum in the 2 GHz band throughout the United States and Canada - with a spectrum footprint that covers a population of nearly 330 million. The satellite uniquely features an 18-meter deployable reflector and an S-band feed array with 500 spot beams. TerreStar has worked with EB (Elektrobit) to develop an integrated satellite-terrestrial smartphone with quad-band GSM and tri-band WCDMA/HSPA capabilities. In addition to seamless satellite/terrestrial voice handovers, the smartphone is capable of SMS, MMS, IM, Email, Push to Talk and Location Based Services (LBS). Notably, TerreStar will use an all-IP core network, with services based on IMS. TerreStar is also working to integrate Qualcomm's EV-DO-based satellite communications technology into an Alcatel-Lucent base station. The satellite-adapted EV-DO base stations -- developed by Alcatel-Lucent -- will form key components of TerreStar's integrated satellite-terrestrial network. "Today's launch is just the beginning of the TerreStar story," said TerreStar President, Jeff Epstein. "We believe there are tremendous opportunities ahead - in both the commercial and government sectors - and we remain focused on our promise to help solve the critical communications and business continuity challenges faced by government, emergency responders, enterprises and rural communities." http://www.terrestar.com http://www.terrestar.com 01-Jul-09 Recent Satellite News Hughes Demos SPACEWAY 3 Capabilities for Coalition Warriors 1/27/2010 Inmarsat Shows its New Global Handheld 1/26/2010 Aircell Debuts New Airborne Internet System aboard Gulfstream G200 1/26/2010 HUGHES Passes 500,000 Broadband Satellite Subscribers 1/25/2010 Cisco's Space Router Passes in-Orbit Test 1/22/2010 Aircell Secures $176 Million of Equity Financing 1/21/2010 DISH Network Migrates its 14 million Subscribers to Nagravision Conditional Access 1/19/2010 ITU Joins Effort to Establish Links to Haiti 1/14/2010 FCC Grants TerreStar ATC Authority 1/14/2010 Intelsat Boosts Links to Haiti 1/14/2010 Télécoms Sans Frontières Dispatches to Haiti 1/13/2010 DISH Reaches its 4 Millionth Satellite TV Customer 12/10/2009 TerreStar, EB and Flextronics Partner on Satellite-Terrestrial Smartphone 12/2/2009 Intelsat 15 Successfully Launched 11/30/2009 Milestone for Hughes: 2 Million Satellite Terminals Shipped 11/30/2009 > More news...   Search  this site   Search the Web   Get Your Column Published LTE -- What Voice Services? by Jose Deras Framing the Next Wave of Carrier Ethernet by Umesh Kukreja Network Interconnection and Evolution for Super Carriers by Dawn M. Hogh Carrier Challenges for Tomorrow's Connected Enterprise by Dr. Badri Nath Dynamic Performance Management for Mobile Data Networks by Michael J. Schabel, Ph.D. To 4G or not to 4G: Supporting Exponential Mobile Traffic Growth by Joe Schraml         E-mail Newsletter Subscribe Now