Online retailing giant Amazon.com has reportedly been testing a wireless network with satellite communications provider Globalstar. Bloomberg noted in a report that the service was recently tested in Cupertino, Calif., using spectrum controlled by Globalstar.
The report suggests Amazon was interested in trialing a service that would allow the company to control the flow of content to customers over a wide-area wireless network. Amazon currently relies on either Wi-Fi or by re-selling 3G connectivity from established carriers to stream content to customers with its Kindle devices.
For Globalstar, the move seems to show the satellite company is progressing in its attempts to re-farm some of its spectrum assets in the 2.4 GHz band for terrestrial use. Globalstar last year petitioned the Federal Communications Commission to allow the company to use some of its spectrum holdings initially set aside for satellite use to launch a mobile broadband service using FDD-LTE technology. That spectrum currently relies on airwaves in the 1.6 GHz band for uplink and the 2.4 GHz band for downlink. The petition looks to focus most of its terrestrial offerings in the 2.4 GHz band, with just low-power use in the 1.6 GHz as to avoid potential interference issues with ground-based GPS systems that had previously derailed LightSquared’s attempt to use its 1.6 GHz spectrum.
Globalstar currently provides satellite-based services to 550,000 customers, including a reported 100,000 voice customers.
In total, Globalstar said it was looking to free up 22 megahertz of spectrum for terrestrial use, angling that the move would also bolster the FCC’s attempts to free up additional spectrum resources for mobile broadband services. A similar move was successfully accomplished by Dish Network, which late last year was allowed to use 30 megahertz of spectrum in the 2 GHz band initially set aside for satellite communications for terrestrial services. That was followed by Dish aggressively targeting the acquisition of domestic carriers Clearwire and Sprint in an attempt to force its way into the domestic mobile space.
Globalstar in June announced results of a joint test conducted with Ruckus Wireless using the 2.4 GHz spectrum, following the grating of an experimental license from the FCC. The companies said that the successful test involved unlicensed ISM band spectrum (where most public Wi-Fi traffic already operates) and Globalstar’s licensed spectrum. The tests were performed using Ruckus’ carrier-grade Wi-Fi equipment and existing smartphones that were given a remote firmware upgrade in order to operate over the new channel.
According to Ruckus, the testing was conducted by Jarvinian and “showed that combining Globalstar’s unlicensed ISM bands with 802.11-compliant, adaptive antenna array technology from Ruckus results in a carrier-grade service that vastly exceeds the performance of conventional public Wi-Fi. According to Jarvinian, Ruckus Smart Wi-Fi technology helped to significantly increase Wi-Fi performance and signal range within the managed channel (14) while providing a better method of managing co-channel interference between access points.”
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