Orbcomm

The Orbcomm low Earth orbit (LEO) system was conceived by Orbital Sciences Corporation (Orbital) in the late 1980s. In 1990, Orbital filed the world's first license application with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for the operation of a network of small LEO spacecraft to provide global satellite services of commercial messaging and data communications services via the company's Orbcomm program.

During the initial stages of the program, Orbital pursued a multi-pronged approach: regulatory approvals, ground infrastructure development and procurement of sites, modem development, and country licensing. In 1992, the World Administrative Radio Conference (WARC) supported the spectrum allocation for non-voice, non-geostationary mobile-satellite service. With WARC approval, Orbital set up a specific Orbcomm program to develop satellites and ground infrastructure, and Orbcomm became a wholly owned subsidiary of Orbital. In 1995, Orbcomm was granted a full license to operate a network with up to 200,000 mobile Earth stations (MESs).

Orbcomm began procuring gateway Earth station (GES) locations and contracted with a division of Orbital Sciences, located in Mesa, Arizona, to develop and build four sets of GESs and associated spares. Land for the four GESs was procured or leased in Arizona, Washington, New York, and Georgia.

After the 1992 WARC approval, Orbcomm signed contracts with three modem developers and manufacturers: Kyushu Matsushita Electric Company, a division of Panasonic; Elisra Electronic Systems, an Israeli company with expertise in electronic warfare systems; and Torrey Science & Technology, a small San Diego–based company with long ties to Orbital Sciences. Panasonic provided the first Orbcomm-approved MES in March 1995. Elisra followed with the EL2000 in late 1995, and Torrey Science provided the ComCore 200 in April 1996.

During equipment development, Orbcomm also pursued licensing and regulatory approvals in several countries. By 1995, Orbcomm had obtained regulatory approval in 19 countries, with several additional countries well into the regulatory process. Orbcomm was also in initial negotiations with groups in Indonesia, EMEA and Italy for becoming Orbcomm licensees and GES operators in their respective regions.

During the conceptual stages of the LEO satellite communications system, Orbital Sciences purchased a small company in Boulder, Colorado, specializing in small-satellite design. This company built the first three satellites in the Orbcomm system: Orbcomm X, Communications Demonstration Satellite (CDS) 1, and CDS 2. Orbcomm X was lost after a single orbit. To validate the feasibility of commercially tracking and communicating with an LEO satellite, Orbital built an additional communications payload and flew this payload on an SR-71 in 1992. These tests were successful, and work on CDS 1 and 2 continued. CDS 1 and CDS 2 were launched in February and April 1992, respectively. These satellites were used to validate the design of the network further and were showcased in Orbital's plans to sign up an equity partner for the completion of the Orbcomm System.

In June 1992, Orbital created an equal partnership called Orbcomm Global L.P. with Teleglobe Mobile Partners (Teleglobe Mobile), an affiliate of Teleglobe Inc., for the design and development of the LEO satellite system. Teleglobe Mobile invested $85 million in the project and provided international service distribution. Orbital agreed to construct and launch satellites for the Orbcomm system and to construct the satellite control center, the network control center, and four U.S. gateway Earth stations.

Two satellites (F Plane) were launched in April 1995, and the Orbcomm global mobile data communications network was tested in the summer. Teleglobe Mobile invested an additional $75 million in the project that year and joined Orbital as a full joint-venture partner in Orbcomm. In February 1996, Orbcomm initiated the world's first commercial service for global mobile data communications provided by LEO satellites. Orbcomm also raised an additional $170 million. In October 1996, Orbcomm licensed Malaysian partner Technology Resources Industries Bhd. (TRI) to sell Orbcomm's global two-way messaging service in Singapore, Malaysia, and Brunei. TRI became the owner of a 15% stake in ORBCOMM, Teleglobe owning 35%, and the rest held by Orbital.

Orbcomm provides satellite data services. As of May 2016, Orbcomm has more than 1.6 million billable subscriber communicators. Orbcomm has control centers in the United States, Brazil, Japan, and South Korea, as well as U.S. ground stations in New York, Georgia, Arizona, Washington and international ground stations in Curaçao, Italy, Australia, Kazakhstan, Brazil, Argentina, Morocco, Japan, South Korea, and Malaysia. Plans for additional ground station locations are underway.

The Orbcomm satellite network best suits users who send small amounts of data. To avoid interference, terminals are not permitted to be active more than 1% of the time, and thus they may only execute a 450 ms data burst twice every fifteen minutes. The latency inherent in Orbcomm's network design prevents it from supporting certain safety-critical applications.

Orbcomm's acquisition of SkyWave Mobile Communications in January 2015 gave the company access to higher bandwidth, lower-latency satellite products, and services that leverage IsatData Pro (IDP) technology over Inmarsat's global L-band satellite network.

ORBCOMM's direct competition includes Globalstar's simplex services (which Orbcomm also resells) and L-band leased capacity services such as those offered by SkyBitz. Orbcomm's most significant competitor is Iridium Communications, which offers the Iridium SBD service, which features data packet, latency, and antenna capabilities similar to that of IDP technology, which is now jointly owned by Orbcomm and Inmarsat.