Via Satellite illustration.

Globalstar announced a strategic collaboration agreement with Qualcomm Technologies on Tuesday, involving a portfolio of 5G private network technologies. Qualcomm Technologies plans to make select Qualcomm FSM Platforms commercially available that will work with Globalstar’s Band n53 terrestrial spectrum for private networks.

Additionally, Globalstar will license its Band n53 spectrum to system integrators supporting the deployment of 5G private network solutions utilizing small cell radios and devices running on Qualcomm FSM Platforms. Globalstar said the Qualcomm Edgewise Suite will play a key role in helping system integrators manage these new 5G private networks solution deployments.

Globalstar Vice President Kyle Pickens said this collaboration with Qualcomm is a “critical step” to develop the terrestrial ecosystem for Band n53.The 3GPP group approved the 5G variant of Globalstar’s Band 53 in March 2020, and Globalstar has a previously announced collaboration with Qualcomm to include the band in its X65 modem. 

“Through the use of the Qualcomm FSM 5G RAN Platform and Qualcomm Edgewise Suite, Globalstar, and our many selected system integrators around the globe can provide customers with premium performance while meeting challenging power, cost, size and multi-vendor interoperability requirements for 5G private network infrastructure,” said Gerardo Giaretta, vice president of Product Management for Qualcomm Technologies.