My friend Bill:
Some information about GSTRF
Qualcomm CEO Sees 1 Mln Globalstar Phone Customers (Update1)
San Diego, Sept. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Qualcomm Inc. Chief
Executive Irwin Jacobs said Globalstar Telecommunications Ltd.,
the satellite-telephone operator for which it's making equipment,
can reach a million customers quickly.
Globalstar counts the world's the largest wireless-services
company, Vodafone AirTouch Plc, among its partners. The company
will officially announce the availability of its service at
Telecom '99 in Geneva next month.
Investors will be concerned about Globalstar's prospects,
Jacobs said, since Iridum LLC and ICO Global Communications Ltd.,
two other satellite-telephone services providers, have sought
bankruptcy court protection from creditors.
'It will be largely a soft launch,' he said of
Globalstar's expected announcement. 'Gradually, each operator
will decide when it's appropriate to go into the full commercial
launch. I would expect much of that will happen about the
beginning of the year.'
Jacobs said he expects demand for satellite phones to rise
as the regional operators 'do their part' to market and support
the service. 'I won't predict anything, but I would hope we get
fairly quickly past the million (subscriber) mark,' he said.
That milestone could be reached in 'a year,
optimistically,' he said, 'but probably more than a year.'
Shares of Qualcomm, based in San Diego, fell 3 1/2 to 186
5/8. The company is the best-performing stock in the Standard &
Poor's 500 Index this year. Globalstar fell 1 5/8 to 24 1/4. |
