(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.
