Valueman, I owe you a big thank you.
Just got off the phone with Jeannette Cronin, at G* and Loral IR. She verified what you said, as follows:
At Kickoff in 3Q (Sept 30?), they will have 30,000-plus handsets available for 8-9 "major" gateways, 130,000 available at year-end for 16 gateways, and 300,000 for 24 gateways during 2Q'00 (which could be as late as June 30, of course). (And that's where I wasn't clear--was the slow rollout of the gateways--Yes, they will have 300,000 when the gateways go live, but most of the gateways won't go live for another year.)
On pricing: Of course, the SP's are able to charge what they want. Any landline charge will be in addition to the G* and SP charge. Most calls will be within gateway. She used 47 cents as the "average" wholesale charge from G* to the SP's, being about the midpoint of 35-55 cents. The price is higher for small volumes. As volumes increase G* charges less. Thus there is an incentive for the SP's to get minutes ramped up.
The $1.50-2.00/min charge can be read as confidence by Airtouch that there is sufficient demand out there, she said. (Or, it could be an indication that their share of 30,000 handsets is a pretty limited supply, I say).
Airtouch sees their market split 50-50 in two parts--"Vertical", she used offshore drillers and forestry as examples, and "Gap Filler" (Who on the thread talked about not being able to talk from Phoenixville, PA? I presume that's gap filler potential market). The "Vertical" issue ties in nicely with djane's irid article posted last night.
Again, thanks. As I said in one of my posts, I've found your contributions to be consistently valuable. If your statements had come from someone else I might have blown them off. I'm glad I didn't.
Best,
John
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