FORBES: Inmarsat is a global satellite telecom network that actually makes a profit. And it's planning a public listing next year.
Down To Earth
By Richard Heller
Forbes
It's hard to imagine a riskier business than satellite telephony. Of the four mobile satellite services companies now active, two, Iridium and ICO Global Communications, are in bankruptcy proceedings. The third is Globalstar, an operator that hesitantly began operations only at the end of 1999.
Undaunted by the high failure rate, the fourth one, the London-based Inmarsat, plans to sell a substantial portion of its shares to the public next year. Memories of Iridium's financial implosion in August will stay fresh, so why would anybody want to buy shares in a satellite telecom provider? "We're different," declares Michael Storey, its CEO. "For one thing, we're not a startup; we've been in action for years."
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In contrast to Iridium, Inmarsat hopes that its objectives are modest enough goals to appeal to investors. Inmarsat hasn't published demand projections, but at current rates of growth the number of customers would rise from a mere 183,000 at the end of last year to about 500,000 four years hence. If each customer spends the same amount in 2003 that he spends now ($2,200), revenues would increase from $406 million in 1999 to $1.1 billion.
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