GSTRF--Market need
This is a good time to be talking about G* again, since the stock price is so weak, and we might not have too long to wait to see if this is going to work. Hopefully, we'll start to see some numbers start to trickle out with March 31 earnings.
On your question: Some areas of need (in no particular order)--
1. Farmers on large midwestern farms spend the day out of range of the cell system. They rely today on two-way radios, which limits their flexibility.
2. Wilderness tour operators. An anecdote was just posted on the G* thread of a tour operator who ordered 7 phones, for use at each of his base camps. Previously, he was basically out of touch with his various operations, short of going and visiting them personally.
3. "Vertical industries"--such as mining and forestry, where the operations are often out of range of normal telecom infrastructures.
4. The hundreds of thousands (or, millions?) of villages around the world that have no telecom at all. Mexico has announced a program to provide subsidized fixed satellite service in some villages. Telecomm service has been demonstrated to be a huge economic enabler.
5. Any area not served by cellular. Note that even in the US, half of the land mass is still not covered by cellular.
6. Maritime. Present services either are radio (which limits usefulness, since someone on the other end has to have a radio too), or GEO (which suffers from the voice delay caused by the distance the signal has to travel--and therefore sounds "wierd").
7. Emergency services. In my town, believe it or not, just 12 miles from Manhattan, there are dead spots in the cellular footprint.
8. Catastrophe service. E.g., Mozambique flood relief?
Telecomm is the definition of enabling technology. Any improvement in communication enables greater productivity. To the extent stellite wireless improves communication, it is very much satisfying a need, rather than a want.
The issue with G* is not whether there are people out there with a need. The key questions that the market has at this point are:
1. Are there enough users out there, with both the need and the cash, to cover G*'s costs?
2. Can G* successfully address this market? (They don't have a history as a marketing organization).
3. Can we believe Bernie Schwartz any longer, since he has overstated (lied?) so often in the past?
Best,
John |
