Globalstar hires former Qualcomm CEO for ‘next phase’

Paul Jacobs, the former CEO of Qualcomm and the son of Qualcomm co-founder Irwin Jacobs, is now taking over as the CEO of satellite company Globalstar.

Jacobs will take over leadership of Globalstar at a critical time for the company. Globalstar’s satellites currently power the emergency calling functions on Apple’s new iPhone. That offering will presumably expand later this year if Apple inserts the technology into its next iPhone, which is expected to be released in the next few weeks.

Further, Globalstar is also pursuing several other lines of business. For example, its satellites power messaging services across its Spot gadgets. The company also offers Internet of Things (IoT) services, and is preparing to introduce a new, two-way platform for its IoT business later this year. And Globalstar has hinted at other communications opportunities – including private wireless networking opportunities – leveraging the company’s Band 53 spectrum holdings. Indeed, Qualcomm has agreed to support Band 53 in its chipsets that power a wide range of smartphones.

According to Globalstar’s Jay Monroe, that’s where Jacobs will focus his time and energy. Monroe has been Globalstar’s chairman since 2004 when his private equity firm bought the company out from bankruptcy.

“Paul is a technology pioneer and proven leader who is well suited to drive Globalstar’s next phase of growth across our satellite and terrestrial assets and cement our position as a market disruptor,” he said in a release from the company.

The XCOM Labs factor

Paul succeeded Irwin as CEO of Qualcomm in 2005, but stepped down in 2014. Paul then served as Qualcomm’s executive chairman until 2018, when he led a failed attempt to take Qualcomm private. After that, Paul and several other top Qualcomm executives left Qualcomm to form startup XCOM Labs.

A few years later, in 2021, Globalstar announced a “strategic alliance” with XCOM that would pair XCOM’s “capacity-multiplying technology” with Globalstar’s Band 53 spectrum.

Then, during Globalstar’s investor day late last year, Jacobs promised that XCOM’s technology would allow Globalstar to “carry the traffic and subscriber load which previously required a much wider channel” over its Band 53 spectrum holdings in 2.4GHz.

In appointing Jacobs as CEO, Globalstar also announced that it entered into a “strategic perpetual licensing agreement for exclusive access” to certain key XCOM technologies and personnel. Specifically, Globalstar mentioned that XCOM’s technology “delivers substantial capacity gains and other benefits in dense, complex, challenging wireless environments.”

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