<Need Globalstar low earth orbit satellites.>
Now cramer was on the other night touting the cell tower companies as a great investment - in the past I used to see lots of brittneys with thier sony walkmans, today I see them with cell phones and HD radio doesnt seem to be taking off in the USA. I took a bet against SIRI around 5 bucks and lost, because I see towers beating out satellite - to expensive getting payload up and repairing - maybe micro satellites and the space elevator will change those economics - now Iridium is talking data services - but thats too slow for data as you point out - so why at the end of this release are they pumping thier DATA services? hehe
azcentral.com
Iridium Satellite LLC is considering IPO
Telephone system foresees growth
Jane Larson
The Arizona Republic
Sept. 2, 2005 12:00 AM
Iridium, the satellite communications project that was one of Arizona's biggest technological innovations and biggest financial flops, could get another shot at the stock market.
Iridium Satellite LLC is looking at strategic options, including a possible initial public offering, early next year, Chief Executive Officer Carmen Lloyd said Thursday.
The company also would consider raising money in the bond market to provide a return to investors or funds for new equipment and services, he said. advertisement
"We have a lot of market opportunity left, and with growing demand, we see no reason why our growth can't be sustained for three to five years," Lloyd said.
Iridium Satellite, based in Bethesda, Md., bought the assets of bankrupt Iridium LLC in 2000 for $25 million. The successor company still has 80 employees in Tempe who operate one of the system's two international gateways connecting the 66- satellite network to land-based telephone systems. It also has 100 contract employees in Chandler who run its technical support center.
Iridium, the world's first satellite telephone system, was developed by Motorola Inc. engineers in Chandler in the late 1980s. Motorola spun off the project as Iridium LLC after spending more than $5 billion on its development.
The original Iridium went public in 1997 at $20 a share. Its stock hit a record $72 a share in 1998 before sluggish sales and high expenses forced the company into bankruptcy in 1999.
Iridium Satellite has generated positive cash flow for two years and turned bottom-line profitable in the first quarter, Lloyd said. Revenue has grown 27 percent from a year ago, he said. Iridium Satellite has built a wide base of partner companies to sell and service its phones, and it has introduced products that allow users to transmit data in addition to voice, Lloyd said. |
