Sorry, I don't remember a "219 million IDIQ contract" whatever that was for. It's pretty clear from all of Irid's SEC and BK court filings that Iridium never got more than 1% of that amount. My point, which you don't disagree with, I assume, was that the USG made a big investment in its own gateway long before November '98 or any significant "system testing."
As for "IRIDIUM PHONES WORKED EVERYWHERE.. " by your own account it's not true. In its farewell press release last March Iridium spoke of being licensed in 160 countries....a great accomplishment, it's true, and one Globalstar is apparently 60 countries short of. But that leaves well over 50 territories unaccounted for, including several in which G* is licensed (Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Poland, Hungary and some others in E. Europe, plus most of the Caribbean). The more important question, if trying to draw conclusions about G*'s prospects from Iridium's failure, is the depth of presence and competency of the local service providers. In several key markets, including N. America, Australia and Brasil, it's apparent that G*'s distribution network and local "presence" is vastly superior to Irid's. In others (China, Russia) the picture isn't clear. In a few (India) Iridium had a presence and G*, to date, does not. I think Iridium managed to attract 800 customers in India, and, too bad for them, they have no opportunity to switch to G*. So it goes..... |
