Spotlight: ORBCOMM Makes French Connection

The French regulatory agency, Autorité de Régulation des Télécommunications (ART), has granted approval to Toulouse, France-based ELTA to offer ORBCOMM satellite services to businesses in France.

ELTA operates four product lines – emergency locator transmitters, smart converters, on-board equipment and satellite communication systems. The French company is seeking to enhance its product offerings and expand into additional markets that can benefit from ORBCOMM satellite services. ORBCOMM’s low-earth orbit satellite network is used by businesses to track, monitor and control both mobile and fixed assets.

Jean-Jacques Mevel, director of ELTA’s space business, said his company would market ORBCOMM services to a wide range of industries, including oil and gas, heavy equipment and transportation.

Jerry Eisenberg, co-CEO of ORBCOMM, said ELTA’s existing relationships with French companies and industries would allow ORBCOMM to access the French market quickly. Dulles, Va.-based ORBCOMM serves a diverse customer base by tracking, monitoring and controlling mobile and fixed assets that include trucks, containers, barges, fishing vessels, locomotives, heavy machinery, pipelines, oil wells, energy meters and storage tanks.

–Paul Dykewicz

(Tory Schulte, ORBCOMM, 703/433-6508)