The concept of an integrated terrestrial/land mobile satellite system

Potential satellite markets in the public safety (disaster relief, emergency medical, and law enforcement) and common carrier (mobile radio telephone) service areas are identified. The public mobile telephone segment is then examined to illustrate a methodology for identifying a potential satellite addressable market, including capacity requirements for roughly sizing a satellite. It is postulated that satellites could serve this lower density (mobiles per square kilometer), thin-route market at a competitive cost and thus complement terrestrial systems in the urban and more densely populated areas to provide an integrated nationwide mobile service.