Orbcomm Global L.P. [ORB]announced the commercial availability of the Stellar Communications ST2500 GSM subscriber communicator (SC), which can use either GSM cellular systems that are widely used outside North American, including their short messaging capabilities, or the Orbcomm LEO satellite data system.

It is based on Stellar’s subscriber communicator and Siemens’s M-20 GSM cellular phone. It has been shipped to custoemrs in Europe and is available commercially worldwide, said Zvi Huber, president of Stellar Satellite Communications.

“The Orbcomm/GSM unit is a major develop initiative by Stellar,” Huber said. “It will allow penetration of markets otherwise unavailable to Orbcomm and will put Stellar in a lead position to secure immediate opportunities in countries covered by GSM and Orbcomm.

“We are working closely with our customers around the world to identify dual-mode opportunities and continuing our development efforts to introduce additional terrestrial networks in conjunction with our Orbcomm ST2500 platform,” Huber added.

Orbcomm is a partnership of Teleglobe Inc. [TGO] and Orbital Sciences Corp. [ORB]. Stellar Satellite Communications is a subsidiary of Elisra Electronic Systems, an electronic warfare, telecommunications and microwave technologies company. Elisra is itself a subsidiary of the Israeli conglomerate Koor Industries [KOR].