Earnings Call Transcript - GSAT Q2 2025

Operator, Operator

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Globalstar Second Quarter 2025 Earnings Conference Call. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your first speaker today, Rebecca Clary, CFO. Please go ahead.

Rebecca S. Clary, CFO

Thank you, operator, and good afternoon, everyone. Before we begin, please note that today's call contains forward-looking statements intended to fall within the safe harbor provided under the securities laws. Factors that could cause the results to differ materially are described in the Risk Factors section of Globalstar's SEC filings, including its annual report on Form 10-K for the financial year ending 2024 and its other SEC filings as well as today's earnings release. Also note that management may reference EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA, free cash flow or adjusted free cash flow on this call, which are financial measures not recognized under U.S. GAAP. As required by SEC rules and regulations, these non-GAAP financial measures are reconciled to their most comparable GAAP financial measures in the earnings release, which is available on our website. I'll begin with a review of our financials before touching briefly on the expected impact of tariffs and our outlook. I'll then turn it over to Paul to cover key operational updates. Overall, second quarter financial results were strong with solid growth in revenue, cash flows and profitability. Total revenue increased 11% to $67.1 million for the second quarter compared to the prior year period of $60.4 million. Service revenue increased 10%, driven primarily by wholesale capacity services, which benefited from the timing of service fees associated with the reimbursement of network-related costs that have increased following recent network expansion. In commercial IoT, we are pleased to see continued growth in the average number of subscribers, propelled by a record number of gross activations over the last 12 months. We expect to see this momentum continue with the adoption of our 2-way module, which Paul will cover later. The increase in revenue contributed to the net income generated during the second quarter as well as higher adjusted EBITDA, which rose to $35.8 million compared to $32.6 million in the prior year second quarter. Partially offsetting the benefit of higher revenue were certain cost increases, including expenses incurred to continue developing and enhancing XCOM RAN. Higher cash costs to support XCOM negatively impacted the change in adjusted EBITDA by approximately $1.9 million and adjusted EBITDA margin by 300 basis points compared to the prior year's quarter. While we expected this upfront investment, we remain confident in the long-term profitability and strategic importance of this product offering. Moving to the balance sheet. We ended the quarter with $308.2 million in cash on hand. Adjusted free cash flow for the 6 months ended June 30, 2025, was $77.9 million compared to $51.9 million at the prior year period, primarily reflecting higher service payments received under the updated service agreements during 2025. Before we turn to the outlook, I want to briefly revisit our view on the evolving tariff environment. We've conducted a thorough assessment. And based on what we know today, we believe Globalstar is well positioned to minimize any significant financial impact. Our global manufacturing and logistics footprint gives us flexibility to manage through potential headwinds. This includes the ability to shift production, leverage third-party logistics providers and where necessary, pass through incremental costs without affecting our competitive position. As a result, we continue to expect a relatively immaterial impact in the near term. Given our results to date and expectations for the balance of the year, we are reiterating our full year 2025 outlook and continue to expect revenue in the range of $260 million to $285 million, and we anticipate adjusted EBITDA margin of approximately 50%. With that, I'd like to turn the call over to Paul.

Paul E. Jacobs, CEO

Thank you, Rebecca, and good afternoon, everyone. It's great to be with you today, and I'm definitely pleased to update you on the progress. There has been significant progress in the Globalstar-Parsons commercial relationship. We successfully completed their proof of concept, integrating our satellite network with their software-defined communications platform. That demonstration, which was conducted across 3 European ground stations, validated performance and operational readiness for real-world deployment. I'm pleased to announce that following this milestone, we executed a capacity access agreement moving this partnership into the commercial phase, showcasing Globalstar's ability to deliver resilient, low-latency mission-critical solutions for government and defense applications worldwide. Another important development in the government sector is our growing engagement with U.S. federal agencies. We recently entered into a cooperative research and development agreement with the U.S. Army to evaluate our satellite-enabled edge processing solutions. This effort focuses on ultra-low size, weight and power devices designed for secure autonomous operation in challenging environments. It reflects our expanding presence in defense and government markets and the relevance of our network architecture for high-priority mission applications such as covert sensing and unmanned system support. We are excited about this opportunity and look forward to future phases of work. These recent agreements represent a meaningful expansion of our existing governmental customer relationships, and we expect significant revenue contribution from this area of our business. We continue to see growing demand for our products and services with new customers and emerging use cases steadily coming online. Over the past several quarters, we've been focused on executing a clearly defined strategy and go-to-market plan designed to capture these opportunities and to support long-term sustainable growth. That effort includes investments in core infrastructure, the launch of foundational new assets and the expansion of strategic partnerships, all of which are enabling innovative solutions that extend the value of our network. To that end, we have made progress on several operational milestones. Globalstar has officially kicked off its global ground infrastructure program in preparation for the next-generation Extended MSS Network, also called our C-3 system. This milestone was achieved with the successful installation of a new 6-meter tracking antenna at our flagship ground station in Texas, our largest and longest operating site. This installation is part of a sweeping upgrade expected to add roughly 90 antennas across 35 ground stations in 25 countries. This expansion is designed to increase network capacity, resiliency and reach, ensuring robust service continuity in mission-critical environments. In fact, recent widespread power outages in Spain and Portugal underscored the reliability of our satellite network, which remained operational while terrestrial networks went offline, demonstrating the vital role our expanding networks of ground stations play in ensuring continuous connectivity since our constellation is built with multiple redundancies. To complement our ground infrastructure build-out, we also signed a launch services agreement with SpaceX in June 2025 for the deployment of the second batch of 9 satellites currently being constructed under our 2022 procurement agreement with MDA. We expect the first launch of these replacement satellites later this year and the second launch in 2026. These satellites are expected to replenish our existing second-generation constellation to ensure continuity of service. Taken together, these milestones mark a period of focused execution across multiple fronts, domestically and internationally as well as commercial and government sectors. We're delivering on our promise to build a next-generation mobile satellite network that is global, resilient and scalable while opening new avenues for growth across our target verticals. And as we look ahead, we remain confident in the strength of our strategic road map and our ability to execute against it. We believe the foundational investments we're making today across our space and ground infrastructure, commercial partnerships and technology innovation are positioning us to serve a growing number of high-value applications across industrial, commercial and government markets, whether it's enhancing connectivity in hard-to-reach areas, enabling autonomous platforms at the edge or supporting mission-critical communications. We believe our solutions are increasingly aligned with the evolving needs of our customers. Our recently introduced RM200 2-way module continues to show a promising trajectory with proof of concepts advancing rapidly and across a broad and diverse customer base. With over 50 partners currently testing the module, we're already seeing strong interest around key applications, including oil and gas operators optimizing remote asset management, military and defense organizations seeking resilient edge communications through remote control and management and MVNOs interested in bringing hybrid connectivity and many others. We believe the RM200's easy integration and powerful 2-way edge communications are positioning us firmly for growth in multiple high-value sectors. Many of these markets exist today, and we will compete favorably in both price and functionality. In addition to expanding our satellite capabilities, we're actively advancing our XCOM RAN platform, which represents a critical entry point into the terrestrial wireless markets. As we continue development of this software-defined end-to-end solution, we're encouraged by the strong technical validation and increasing interest from prospective partners. XCOM RAN is engineered to deliver lower latency, enhanced spectral efficiency, ease of deployment and dynamic spectrum sharing, and we believe it has the potential to significantly expand our addressable market by enabling future hybrid satellite terrestrial network architectures. We remain committed to bringing this differentiated technology to market with necessary near-term investments to support long-term value creation. Our broader go-to-market approach centered on flexibility, interoperability and resilience positions us well to support the convergence of satellite and terrestrial networks. And finally, we're proud to have led the way across multiple satellite services, and we're excited about what lies ahead. Our network and architecture are in the right place at the right time. And we think that what's becoming readily apparent in the market is that having proprietary spectrum matters most. Our advantage and differentiation from our competitors is our globally harmonized licensed spectrum. With our recently announced agreements, expanding buildouts and increased engagement with U.S. federal agencies, we believe we're laying the groundwork for meaningful growth across a diverse set of verticals. We anticipate the launch of the satellites under our MDA procurement agreement that will further enhance our service continuity and performance. The progress we've made reflects the talent and dedication of our global team, and we're energized by the momentum we're building across commercial and government markets alike. So thanks again for joining us today. Thanks for your continued support of Globalstar, and we look forward to updating you on our progress in the quarters to come. I'll now turn the call back to the operator for Q&A.

Operator, Operator

Our first question comes from Michael Ridgeway of Robertson Stephens.

Michael Ridgeway, Analyst

I have a couple of questions and will address them one at a time. Please feel free to interrupt me at any point. Can you provide any updates on the international retail opportunity for terrestrial? I understand you have been working on it for a while, so any additional insights on your progress would be appreciated.

Paul E. Jacobs, CEO

Yes. So, I mean, as you know, selling into enterprise, there can be long sales cycles. But I would say that all our interactions are going in the right direction. We are actually making progress on more than just the initial applications on multiple fronts. And so there's definitely an opportunity for expansion in that business. The other thing that's interesting is n53, our spectrum band, which originally, we built the XCOM RAN technology on CBRS, but the opportunity to include that is increasingly part of the conversation as people see that having that band really allows for mission-critical applications. I've said this all along; it was something I experienced at Qualcomm too. When you're launching some new technology, it's often hard to know when the customer is going to push the go button. It usually doesn't have to do with the technology of the product. Often, it's something to do with other aspects of the customer's business. I'm optimistic about where we're headed.

Michael Ridgeway, Analyst

Are there any other engagements and other verticals that you can point to that might flesh out a few more use cases?

Paul E. Jacobs, CEO

Yes. So we're working on some government projects. We've now gotten to the point, given that we've had the time to do additional development to go more into the horizontal marketplace. So we're actually talking to some companies that are in the business of rolling out networks for locations that have high demand. We've been through lab testing, and we're in the process of discussing initial deployments and proofs of concept. Our development process has been focused on the initial customer, and we've been doing incremental development to get to this horizontal model. I'm very optimistic about where we're headed.

Michael Ridgeway, Analyst

XCOM RAN, in the past, you've talked about that as being a potentially licensable technology. Anything that you can speak to there with respect to how efforts are going? Or I know that will be a long cycle market as well, but it sounds like the efficiencies are there and the technology is there. Any initial interest or conversations going on in that realm?

Paul E. Jacobs, CEO

We started out that way and looked at licensing, and it was hard. It's Open RAN based. And as I think everybody has seen, generic Open RAN suppliers have had challenges. I think they overinvested in markets before they were ready. It would take us getting to the point where we are in the MNOs, which is starting to cause pressure on some of the bigger suppliers to see whether they're interested in licensing. I would say though that the way that we're focused on the product and industrial WiFi is a competitor, and we are doing great jobs on a set of applications where we can save a fair amount of cost, not just have performance improvements. We're looking at even potentially Network as a Service models going forward, which could wrap in the spectrum play as well.

Michael Ridgeway, Analyst

Great. Two more quick ones, if I may. Any updates on terrestrial licenses internationally or any road map that you can provide progress points for this year and/or next?

Paul E. Jacobs, CEO

Yes. So we got Mexico. That was the most recent one. The regulatory team has been focused on getting the authorizations for the C-3 higher power systems. We don't think there are any issues with getting the international terrestrial licenses. It's been reasonably straightforward. It’s really just a question of spending the human resources and the money to actually pay whatever needs to be paid and the maintenance fees and so forth. I think that will come as we continue to find opportunities for international sales around that.

Michael Ridgeway, Analyst

In that sense, does the license authorization in Spain kind of act as a proxy for the rest of Europe? Or is it more complicated than that?

Paul E. Jacobs, CEO

Yes. I mean, it's a little more complicated. Every country has different regulations, and wireless isn't totally homogeneous across Europe. But it's a great example. The fact that we had the spectrum in Spain during Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, when we had our own spectrum and everybody else didn't, showcased how valuable having spectrum that we control is.

Michael Ridgeway, Analyst

Fantastic. One more question, if I may. Going back to the satellite portion of the business, could you discuss the challenges faced in the past few months, particularly regarding spectrum sharing and dual licenses? Can you explain, perhaps at a basic technical level, the feasibility of spectrum sharing and whether you believe it is a possibility?

Paul E. Jacobs, CEO

There have been a lot of statements made about how the system works and the utilization of the spectrum. There's a lot of misinformation out there about how the spectrum is used. But from a technical standpoint, there are people making claims that you can just layer multiple CDMA systems on top of each other. My technical team is very experienced in that area. Unless it's all optimized together, it doesn’t work. That doesn’t make sense to the regulators either. I feel confident about our position, given our strong relationships with the FCC and other regulators.

Operator, Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Griffin Boss of B. Riley Securities.

Griffin Taylor Boss, Analyst

Just a quick follow-up for me on the XCOM RAN. I'm just curious if there's any way to quantify or pinpoint how much more development work you expect? Or I guess, if there's ongoing development work you're doing with this initial customer? Or is it really just a function of that customer kind of waiting for the right time to pull the trigger there?

Paul E. Jacobs, CEO

The way it looks right now is that there are some incremental opportunities and some small amounts of development going into those opportunities. The big acoustic fulfillment center technology is done, and it's been through a lot of testing. From a technical standpoint, not much more needs to be done. We're also looking at kind of the next set of engagements to get into some deeper verticals. We've gotten to the point where we have enough functionality that we can provide it horizontally as well. We're working on internal versions of the software stack that we were buying, which will provide some cost savings.

Operator, Operator

I am showing no further questions at this time. I would now like to turn it back to Paul Jacobs, CEO, for closing remarks.

Paul E. Jacobs, CEO

Great. Well, thanks, everyone, for joining us on the call. Hopefully, our excitement about the future is coming through. There's a lot of good momentum happening, and we continue to attract new customers, meet operational milestones, and build out our future roadmap as well. It feels like a good time. The team is executing very well, and I think we're making our customers happy. We look forward to discussing more milestones met in the future and the interesting things we're going to engage in together. Thanks for your support to date, and stay tuned with us.

Operator, Operator

Thank you for your participation in today's conference. This does conclude the program. You may now disconnect.