Excerpts from article in 20 Sep 99 Space News:(Courtesy of Lawrence Cooper on Yahoo thread)
Firm Takes Cautious Initial Strategy
by Paula Shaki Trimble
Globalstar L.P.'s cautious aproach to selling handsets and its strong alliances with experienced telecommunications operators should help the company avoid some of the pitfalls that plagued its predecessor in the satellite telephony market, industry officials say.
...Globalstar does not intend to allow users to order the handsets until distributors have a healthy supply of the phones and the system is truly operational, said Mac Jeffery, spokesman for San Jose, Calif.-based Globalstar...
...Customer help desks and billing systems must be in place before handsets can be sold, he said...
...Service will begin at the end of September with a test period in North America, parts of Western Europe and South Africa, and later expand to offer global ciommercial service, Jeffery said. Those initial markets represent 40 percent of Globalstar's business plan...
...The rolllout depends on the availability of the ground infrastructure...
...Users have not been able to buy the phones from service providers yet "because we don't want to repeat mistakes we;ve seen before," Jeffery said.
...Globalstar appears to be managing the physical delivery if the handsets well, said William Kidd, satellite analyst at C.E. Unterberg, Towbin, New York...
...That means Globalstar service will be launched slowly, with full commercial service on a global scale probably not happening until early next year...Even then, phones purchased in the United States will not work in other parts of th world until the system's ground stations are equipped with the capabvility to handle phones from different regions. That process could take as long as six months...
...First, several hundred hand-selected users-primarily AiraTouch employees--will begin using Globalstar service as soon as the end of September, Carnici said. After several weeks, Globalstar will enter what the company is calling a softlaunch phase, encompassing a larger group of people, including some who have indicated they are interested in purchasing a Globalstar phone... |
