Text of "Iridium Phone Collapse Hits French Pacific Rower" article.
(I think this guy (the rower) is more nuts than the people who have been buying Iridium common shares lately for over $1.00).
******************************
Friday March 17 7:23 PM ET
Iridium Phone Collapse Hits French Pacific Rower
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (Reuters) - The impending collapse of the global $5 billion Iridium mobile telephone network will isolate a French rower attempting a solo crossing of the Pacific, organizers of his marathon said Saturday.
Jo Le Guen is 45 days and nearly 1,500 miles into a 5,600 miles voyage from New Zealand to Cape Horn in South America, and concerned that the collapse will rob him of his main tool for navigation and weather reports, New Zealand project coordinator Martin Pinder said.
``It is going to be a major inconvenience. Whether it turns out to be a matter of life and death, I don't know,' Pinder told Reuters, adding that Le Guen, rowing a 29-foot boat, was taking it philosophically.
``The phone won't get him to his destination and it won't provide him with immediate salvation if he gets in strife.'
The Iridium World Communications Ltd. said Friday it had failed to attract a suitable last-ditch offer to rescue it from liquidation.
``No bid was received which was a qualified bid,' Iridium attorney William Perlstein told the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan.
It marked the end of an ambitious project to provide telephone service to any spot on the globe through a system of 66 low-orbit earth satellites.
After what seemed a promising launch, Iridium fell into bankruptcy protection last August as sales and service proved disappointing. Critics said service and equipment were too costly, the phones too bulky and the service too erratic.
Le Guen carries maritime emergency equipment, but the phone was his way of keeping in contact with advisers, his family and his doctor during the voyage, which is expected to take around 100 days.
Without the Iridium network, only readings from a beacon will be available to locate him, according to his Web site
keepitblue.net .
``If that happens, Jo is going to be totally alone, unable to inform us if there is any hazard or health problem,' says the site, which is maintained by his supporters in France. He will also be unable to get weather information.
The rower has been getting medical advice for health problems with his feet. An infected boil has healed but his feet are bruised from his rowing straps and have begun swelling painfully due to a lack of circulation in his legs.
Restricted space in his nine-meter (29 ft) craft means he cannot move his legs around.
If Iridium does shut down, there might be a way to deliver a new phone to Le Guen, Pinder said.
``A company in South Africa have said they would possibly be able to help but that would mean having to get a phone to him,' Pinder said.
``That would involve either a container ship from New Zealand taking one to him -- dropping it off en route -- or possibly the French navy or the Chilean navy.'
END *********** |
