Vodafone Australasia Limited plans to charge A$2 per minute and A$2000 for the handsets which will be GSM/Globalstar. I suppose when there are cdmaOne networks in Australia, they'll allow other companies to provide service to their subscribers. This was reported in the paper copy of Infotech Weekly today.
infotech.co.nz
Website doesn't give a link.
Globalstar subscribers will pay for both incoming and outgoing calls [for the Globalstar link anyway] which seems crazy to me. The idiotic USA system of call-receiver-pays is going to damage the Globalstar system. With the poor talk time and standby time of Globalstar handsets, I can see that people will leave their handsets turned off unless they want to make a call themselves. Calling-party-pays would make a lot more sense.
ICO will see these efforts, have hope, start up and cause a glut of minutes and reduction of Globalstar profits. There is alleged to be a huge demand for these minutes but so far, there isn't that much evidence. There are plenty of services offering now with the disadvantage of big handsets with voice delay and high costs etc, but at least they give a very rough guide on the demand for communications where no other option is available.
Dell sells heaps of computers via the Web. Let's hope Globalstar gets organized and does the same so that they arrive all charged up and ready to hit 'SEND' for a free test call to Globalstar service centre or some such.
Meanwhile, I heard from a secret source that Ariane 5 can lift 40 Globalstar satellites [18 - 20T] at a time with a probability of success of 40 out of 41 which is the success rate for the Ariane 4 version which started in 1994. The earlier version was 81 out of 84 since 1988. Test flights have gone well.
So, let's build, build, build [satellites], load them up and fill the sky with short [low altitude] multipath signals for long talk times, solid connections, even in buildings, undercut ICO and other competitors and make a LOT of money. Firing 40 satellites at a time sounds like a LOT of fun.
That should cut costs hugely. Globalstar will be able to make heaps of profit at US10c per minute.
Book 10 of those rockets NOW!
Maurice |
