Hi Michael A. and all. Jul 11, 1998 From: Readware
Message 5187023
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The "voice" part of the G* system has been tried on their handsets already, and there is no voice degradation reported.
G* is not meant to compete with cellular, but to be a cost effective and highly affordable telephony "add-on" where cellular cannot "cell" (lacks possible contiguity with another cell because of infrastructure terrestrial impediments, costs, &c.) .
G*'s operating costs are far lower than iridium's. G*'s break-even is roughly $.07/minute at full capacity (approximately 11.7-12 billion minutes of usage/year for G*) vs. $1.40/minute for Iridium World (1.5-1.7 billion minutes of usage/year for Iridium). Additionally, the G* handset is 1/4 the cost of Iridium's. While the targeted markets differ, the cost spread is severe.
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Back on the P-word. 7 cents a minute to break even for Globalstar means that 10 cents a minute is a passable profit. And THAT'S for the first constellation.
Constellation number two will be much cheaper and functionality will be improved. There will be less latency, less signal propagation distance = lower handset power output, better coverage [and fewer shadows] because more satellites will be visible from any location.
Handset functionality will improve quickly too and they'll be smaller. So in 5 years time, calls will be profitable at 10 cents a minute and handsets will be cheap, small and excellent. Even with service provider charges added and long distance fibre charges added, the total cost could be around 20 cents a minute.
There will be quite a few hundred million people wanting such service at these prices. So there will need to be constellations 3, 4 and 5 in short order. Lower, faster, cheaper, better.
Iridium doesn't have a dog's show. Though I've heard their customers don't know what $$s are and don't care what they pay.
Though there is a question over the word 'capacity'. Readware seems to understand that power is important in a satellite, but doesn't seem to understand that optimisation of power supply and profit depends on the price being charged as a function of time, place, residual battery charge and expected demand over the next few orbits -= "The Babe Principle"
Maurice |
