Texas Instruments (TXN), once the leading supplier of baseband chips, has now been relegated to a distant second position. The company’s problems started two years ago when both Nokia (NOK) and Ericsson (ERIC) decided to multi-source their handset chip requirements. TI lost the exclusive agreements it previously enjoyed at Nokia, and management stated that revenue from Ericsson would also decline from $400 million in 2008 to nil by the end of 2009. Another force in play was Qualcomm (QCOM), which has continued to make steady progress.

Baseband is a generic term used to describe the central application processor that controls and handles most of the digital functions within a handset. Baseband manufacturers face the dual issues of a commoditized market and rapidly increasing development costs. This is because, as features are added to phones, the complexity and cost of manufacturing DSPs are further increased.   Previously, in

TerreStar Corporation

(Public, NASDAQ:TSTR)

With the recent launching of TerreStar-1, TerraStar Corporation looks to break through and become a leader in the communications industry. AT&T Mobility along with TerreStar Corporation will market a hybrid prototype terrestrial/satellite hand set yet this year. The technology will allow the new hand set to operate on ground-based phone networks. In dead zones, the customer could use the device via satellite if they can access the southern sky similar to a satellite dish. The TerreStar-1 has a life expectancy of 15 years. StocksHaven Investments sees this price point of $0.958 as an extremely undervalued play based on financial and potential product analysis.

About

TerreStar Corporation, formerly Motient Corporation, is the controlling shareholder of TerreStar Networks Inc. and TerreStar Global Ltd., and a shareholder of SkyTerra Communications. TerreStar is