SkyTerra's strategy is to sponsor the development of reference chip-set designs and firmware that embodies the satellite-adapted versions of mass-market wireless air interfaces. This approach has been used in the past when a satellite-adapted version of GSM was approved (GMR-1) and incorporated into certain mass-market cellular handsets. It was further demonstrated by SkyTerra in 2005 for CDMA-2000. This approach, in concert with SkyTerra's powerful next-generation satellite constellation, enables satellite capability to be incorporated into mass-market wireless and consumer electronic devices.

Achieving transparency is crucial to the success of any hybrid network offering, because transparency enables the operator to leverage the economies of scale derived by other wireless network operators globally. Unlike the current MSS industry, the terminal equipment of a transparent integrated network utilizes the same components as standard wireless devices. ATC targets the mass consumer market, which drives economies of scale in chipset and device manufacturing for the integrated network.

Historically, MSS-only networks have not been able to achieve transparency for two key reasons:

• Satellites lacked sufficient power to enable communications with small cellular-like equipment.
• Satellite air interfaces (protocols) were proprietary and not closely related to mainstream cellular air interfaces.

Next-generation integrated networks address both of these shortcomings and allow the use of devices that are virtually indistinguishable from that available in the wireless markets today. The network operators can thereby take advantage of the economies of scale and aesthetics of standard cellular devices.

Less innovative networks will not be able to address the historical shortcomings that have plagued the MSS industry because of a lack of one or more of these features. These networks will, therefore, be unable to deliver transparency to the end user, and will not be able to take advantage of the economies of scale made possible by transparency.

Legacy satellite systems offer "inter-working" between MSS and terrestrial networks over different frequency bands (satellite and cellular) and without seamless handover. This yields bulkier and more expensive dual-band/dual-mode user devices. The techniques developed and patented by SkyTerra allow the same (MSS) frequency band to be used for both satellite and terrestrial communications seamlessly, yielding simplified transparent user devices that are aesthetically and functionally indistinguishable from terrestrial-only, while greatly enhancing the user experience of coverage ubiquity.

In SkyTerra's MSS/ATC hybrid network, users would be able to roam and/or handoff between the terrestrial and satellite sub-networks without you having any knowledge of the change in the underlying call path. SkyTerra has developed and patented innovative network management techniques to allow user equipment to seamlessly transition from terrestrial to satellite mode, through adaptations of existing techniques used in cellular and PCS systems for mobile-assisted hand-off. Such techniques would ensure seamless and transparent system coverage over the entirety of the hybrid infrastructure.