Srikanth
As per the recent news, the tech giant Apple has partnered with Globalstar. This partnership has a motive to support an emergency feature in the new iPhone 14 series that will permit the users to transmit messages from locations that might not get cellular coverage. The Cupertino Company has announced that it will be utilizing the funding amount of $450 million (approx. Rs. 4,000 crores) from its advanced manufacturing fund to support this latest feature. Globalstar is going to receive the majority of the amount from the fund. However, the tech giant has not disclosed who the other rest of the companies will receive the remaining portion of the funding.
As per the report of Reuters, Apple has roped in Globalstar to support the emergency satellite service on the iPhone 14 series that will be launching on Wednesday over the global level.
Globalstar will attain around 95 % of the $450 million (roughly Rs. 4,000 crores) fund. The company is planning to raise additional debt for manufacturing and deploying satellites. It will be in contact with Goldman Sachs and hopes to acquire additional funds by Q4 2022.
Globalstar manufactures Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites that operate 36 times closer to the Earth than traditional communication satellites. It further permits LEO satellites to facilitate faster broadband speeds in remote areas.
Apple announced that the satellite message feature would come into effect this November via an OTA update on iPhone 14. These Apple phones are already equipped with the required hardware. The satellite services will initiate in countries like the USA and Canada and then gradually launch to other markets in the coming months. The iPhone 14 users will be able to avail the benefits of these services for free for the first two consecutive years. But the cost of the services is yet to be declared on the official note.
