(1) Capitalized, COMSAT is Short for
Communications Satellite
Corporation, the company that was created in 1962 with the passage of the
Communications Satellite Act. COMSAT was established as a carrier's carrier,
meaning it cannot sell satellite circuits directly to customers, but only to
wholesale communications carriers for resale. In August 2000 Lockheed
Martin Corp., which owned 49 percent of the satellite company, was the successful
purchaser of all the remaining shares of Comsat Corp. Today COMSAT still sells
satellite circuits. However, it also operate as the United States signatory to
Intelsat and
Inmarsat.
(2) A general term often used to refer to any
communications satellite.