In-Flight Dogfight
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posted to: Telecosm Lounge
poster: tgodlove
date: 12/25/00 10:12:45 PM
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Business 2.0 Jan 01
Article In-flight Dogfight
by Kim Girard
The article is a couple of pages long but here are some comments
about G*
Any comments?
This is from the above article in Business 2.0 Jan 01 - More to come
Meanwhile, In-Flight Network promises to start testing a blockbuster
package of email, live television, Internet and corporate intranet
access on domestic flights this year. Jeff Wales, CEO of IFN, says
the company plans to charge customers about the same $20 to $24 a
month they'd pay on the ground for services. IFN's potential
Achilles' heel, however, is its partial reliance on satellite service
provider Globalstar; without it, the airlines have no in-flight
communications. Some analysts say cash-strapped Globalstar may be at
risk to go the way of Iridium, the now-bankrupt satellite-phone
company backed by Motorola. However Globalstar got a temporary
reprieve in September, through a $105 million infusion from Bear
Stearns and $56 million more from founding partners Qualcomm,
Vodafone, and Loral Space and Communications.
News Corp., which controls the 20th Century Fox film studio and the
Fox television network, doesn't seem worried. As far as Wales is
concerned, the only players that matter in this race are the two
behemoths: Boeing and IFN |
