<<RS, they built several gateways across Europe, so I suppose they planned on getting at least 20,000 customers per gateway. >>
Well, maybe, but how fast and for what purpose?
Looking at the GSM coverage maps of W. European countries here
gsmworld.com
I don't see too many land-based, non-roaming users of G* phones, even if the handsets and minutes were practically free.
Of course the W. European GWs serve more than W. Europe's land mass. TESAMs GW will serve N. Africa, the Med and N. Atlantic. Elsacom's serves the Med, E. Europe and the Balkans. The G* N. Europe GW will serve the Baltic, N. Atlantic and parts of the former SU. And European G* subscribers will eventually include those that primarily use the service when away from their small, GSM saturated continent.
But due to bad fortune (or, better to say, bad planning) maritime kits only recently became available, so water borne users of G* would be insignificant, E. Europe and N. Africa countries opened late (or not yet), and international roaming became available late (or not at all to TESAM/Elsacom subscribers as far as one can devine from their websites).
So, Elsacom found 2K G* buyers so far....big deal. Frankly, every phone sold in W. Europe may be a phone not sold in Australia or China, if one really believes that production rates are the sales constraint, so we should be happy, right?
-RS |
