- Globalstar CEO Paul Jacobs declined to discuss potential talks with SpaceX or anyone else, for that matter, during the Q3 earnings call
- The company is upgrading its network with new ground infrastructure to serve its up-and-coming C-3 constellation
- In private wireless, Globalstar is expanding its XCOM RAN platform for industrial applications, highlighting better performance and cost advantages over traditional Wi-Fi
Globalstar CEO Paul Jacobs shot down any attempt to get him to address a possible sale of the company even before anyone could bring it up during the company’s Q3 quarterly earnings call Thursday, saying there would be no remarks after reports of a “potential strategic transaction” involving Globalstar.
That sort of radio silence is standard operating procedure at many public companies, but hey, reporters can always hope for a morsel or two from the top brass – especially when rumor has it the company is talking with Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
Last week, a Bloomberg report, citing unidentified people familiar with the matter, said Globalstar held early talks with Musk’s company about a possible sale. Prior to that, an article in The Information chronicling SpaceX’s relationship with Apple said that Globalstar Chairman Jay Monroe had talked with associates about potentially selling the company for more than $10 billion.
All of this is no doubt complicated by the fact that Apple owns 20% of a Globalstar subsidiary that effectively is the funding vehicle for its up-and-coming C-3 constellation. Last year, Apple invested in the satellite company in an equity deal worth about $400 million. Globalstar provides the satellite connectivity for emergency SOS and texting in Apple iPhone 14 devices and newer – the precursor to T-Mobile’s T-Satellite service powered by Starlink and other direct-to-device (D2D) services queued up at AT&T and Verizon.
SpaceX’s growing foothold in the wireless space came across loud and clear after yesterday’s disclosure that EchoStar is selling more spectrum to SpaceX, on top of the $17 billion worth of airwaves it agreed to sell to SpaceX in September. SpaceX is now in the process of acquiring EchoStar’s unpaired AWS-3 spectrum for $2.6 billion – spectrum it can use to bolster its D2D offerings and/or something as yet undefined but more ground-oriented. (We don’t really know; SpaceX didn’t respond to Fierce’s request for comment.)
What is Globalstar up to?
Beyond the “for-sale-and-to-whom” questions going unanswered, Jacobs spent a considerable time talking about Globalstar’s spectrum position. While other D2D players are spending tens of billions of dollars to acquire L-band and S-band spectrum assets, Globalstar is sitting on a globally harmonized and licensed low Earth orbit (LEO) spectrum platform with “extraordinary potential” for disruption, he said.
“We are confident we are playing a defining role now and for some time to come,” Jacobs said in prepared comments. “For many reasons, Globalstar holds the critical jigsaw pieces that complete the broader D2D puzzle. This moment is a strategic inflection point that could shape or reshape the future of a rapidly converging communications industry.”
To remain competitive in this fast-changing landscape, Globalstar is leveraging its decades-long spectrum strategy to extend its Mobile Satellite Service (MSS) network for Apple, with the development of its third-generation C-3 satellite system.
Across up to 90 sites in Europe, Asia and North America, Globalstar is switching out its ground infrastructure with new tracking antennas to accommodate this new constellation of at least 48 satellites. Each new tracking antenna is 6 meters in diameter.
Globalstar hasn’t announced specifically what new bells and whistles the new satellites will enable for iPhones, leaving Apple to elaborate (or not) on that, but it has acknowledged the new satellites will enable greater capacity and throughput.
Globalstar’s private wireless ambitions
Besides providing satellite connectivity to devices, Globalstar’s been building up its private wireless business.
To serve that segment, Globalstar offers its XCOM RAN platform, and it received an initial order in Q3 from a new warehouse automation customer using it to advance its robotics application. The company didn’t reveal the identity of the new customer or size of the contract.
Jacobs said XCOM RAN works much better than industrial Wi-Fi in part because “Wi-Fi wasn’t really built for handoff” and the XCOM radios use clustering to achieve performance benefits that are “dramatically better” and more reliable for mission-critical applications.
In addition, in large area deployments, “the economics of rolling out our system relative to an industrial Wi-Fi is much better and part of that comes from the fact that we have now built our own radio unit” at a significantly reduced cost, he said.
By the numbers
All told, Globalstar generated Q3 revenue of $73.8 million, a record high for the company. Net income was $1.1 million for Q3 2025 compared to $9.9 million for the prior year's third quarter, with the decline primarily attributed to higher interest expense.
Globalstar reiterated its outlook for 2025, with total revenue expected to be between $260 million and $285 million and adjusted EBITDA margin of about 50%.
Article updated to clarify Apple’s investment relationship with Globalstar.