Email received: <(MORE TO FOLLOW) Dow Jones Newswires
10-02-06 1720ET
Copyright (c) 2006 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.- - 05 20 PM EDT 10-02-06
WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--Globalstar Inc. on Monday set the terms its pending
initial public offering at 6.5 million common shares with an estimated price
range between $16 and $18 a share.
The Milpitas, Calif.-based satellite-telephone provider originally filed a
$100-million IPO in July, but it didn't provide the terms at the time.
According to an amended prospectus filed Monday with the Securities and
Exchange Commission, the company has granted the underwriters an option to
purchase up to 975,000 additional shares to cover overallotments.
Wachovia Securities, JPMorgan and Jefferies & Co. are listed as underwriters
for the offering.
The company said it intends to use the net proceeds from this offering to fund
the procurement and launch of its second-generation satellite constellation and
related upgrades to gateways and other ground facilities.
Globalstar estimates that the total cost to procure and launch these
satellites and upgrade these facilities will be about $1 billion to $1.2
billion. It said it intends to fund the balance of those costs principally from
loans and cash generated from operation.
The company said it has applied to list its stock on the Nasdaq Global Market
under the symbol GSAT.
-By Denise Jia, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-1359; denise.jia@dowjones.com >
Note that only $1.2 billion to replace the constellation [or maybe that's for a Walker 40, which isn't strictly a complete replacement, being only 40 satellites instead of 48 with 4 spares in orbit].
So, the fixed cost per minute will be half that of the previous constellation, and the gateways are already there, so they cost next to nothing [though maybe there'll be some upgrading]. So, if they wanted to, Globalstar Incorporated could sell minutes for 10c a minute easily, without requiring people to buy huge numbers of them, and still make heaps of money.
Of course, what they should do, is fill the constellation and sell millions of phones, by offering really really cheap minutes, if not free. Then balance supply and demand by raising minute prices as the system gets full.
The Motorola 1993 'variable price' patent will have expired by then [and might not be valid anyway, as an auction for short supplies has always been the way of allocating them].
The new Globalstar phones should be out soon too. Single mode. Smaller, better.
Verdad is going to die before Globalstar does.
Mqurice |
