Globalstar USA, a subsidiary of Vodafone Airtouch plc [VOD], announced the full commercial availability of mobile satellite services in the United States.

The service is available throughout the entire United States, and roaming services soon will be available in Canada and Mexico. Intercontinental roaming will begin on a region-by-region basis later this month in Brazil and continental Europe.

“Introduction of service in these three North American countries is a crowning moment for the Globalstar worldwide consortium,” said Anthony Navarra, president of Globalstar L.P. [GSTRF].

The timing of the expanded service launch comes when the company needs good news, following a tense investor conference call held last week in which Globalstar LP Chairman and CEO Bernard Schwartz continued to defer answering any questions about sales or minutes of use until at least the end of the first quarter.

In other Globalstar news, the satellite voice services provider will offer data services to users to compliment its voice product. Users will be able to purchase a Qualcomm [QCOM] GSP-1620 satellite packet data modem. The modem will offer wireless data services to remote locations. Services will include Internet access, telemetry, remote monitoring and control, fleet tracking and remote messaging.

In addition to the satellite modem, users of the Qualcomm GSP-1600 satellite phone will be able to connect the phone to a laptop computer and use the phone as a satellite modem to gain access to the Internet.

Data services will begin commercial field trials this summer, followed by a phased integration to all Globalstar Service Providers. No word has been given as to the price of the data service offerings.