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Microcap & Penny Stocks : Globalstar Telecommunications Limited GSAT -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Rajala who wrote (5848)	7/19/1999 2:14:00 PM
From: Rocket Scientist	Respond to of 29987

G* service in South Africa and its neighbors will debut in October '99, according to this press release issued at the time of last G* launch: vodacom.co.za There are a couple of other G* related items of interest at this Vodafone South Africa web site.

To: Rajala who wrote (5848)	7/19/1999 2:24:00 PM
From: Jeff Vayda	Respond to of 29987

Rajala: RS link seems to agree with Loral's take on the matter (http://www.LORAL.COM/overview/05LoralGlobalstarReduced/sld009.htm) and we all know how tight lipped Loral is about stuff, they dont put things out unless they are quite confident in the information. Jeff Vayda

To: Rajala who wrote (5848)	7/19/1999 6:18:00 PM
From: Drew Williams	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 29987

IMHO, the major reason there are so many holes in the American cellular networks is simple geography. The United States is a pretty big place, and there are a lot of places where the population density simply does not justify putting a cellular tower of any sort, be it AMPS, CDMA, GSM, or TDMA. Certainly it would be economically impossible to build multiple towers for multiple cellular standards in rural areas. Perhaps this is not true where you live? I don't know where that is, but maybe economics is not so important there? The United States is also an increasingly suburban country. The service in our cities and close-in suburbs is really very good. Really. When I go into Philadelphia, I never ever have any trouble on either the AMPS or TDMA networks, depending on whether I am using my phone or my wife's. This opinion is tempered somewhat by AT&T's recently reported capacity shortages (but, like AOL's similar problems a few years ago, they will fix this.) But the farther out you go, the more Swiss cheese the coverage becomes. I believe this is an indication of our affluence. For instance, I think it perfectly normal that I get in my car every morning and drive forty minutes or so to my office. Except for a very brief time when I was working with my wife in her office three traffic lights from our home, I have never had a commute less than twenty-five minutes long. I have also never had a commute where public transportation was available. I have always commuted around (rather than into) the city, using secondary roads because those were the most direct way to go where I go. So, I consider holes in the system to be normal. My understanding is that in Europe, where I have not been for more than 30 years, the American suburban lifestyle is not so common. This would, of course, make cellular coverage much simpler. Still, I suspect the coverage in Paris is better than in the middle of the Argonne. This may be part of why I am more interested in GlobalStar than you are. Just a theory.

To: Rajala who wrote (5848)	7/21/1999 12:52:00 AM
From: Maurice Winn	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 29987

Rajala, it's such fun reading your posts because you provide so much to disagree with. The reason the cellphone networks are so much better in Europe than USA is because GSM was made the 'national standard' in Europe. So roaming was easy, efficiency was higher due to the same technology being used everywhere, Europe has 'calling party pays' instead of the absurd situation they still have in the USA where somebody makes a call to you and YOU have to pay for their decision and needs! For those reasons, Americans were much slower to adopt the technology. It cost them heaps to have a phone, leave it turned on or give their number to everyone. The spectrum cost you thought was the problem is so low it is almost irrelevant in the USA. Even at the very high $4.3bn for 110m pops which Nextwave was going to pay, that only worked out to $40 capital per pop. That is minor compared with the total capital, including handsets, needed to provide service. The new spectrum price, court ordered after the bankruptcy proceedings, was about a fifth or less than that. So your 'high spectrum cost' reason is wrong. GSM also went ahead in leaps and bounds, with functionality, cost, size, coverage etc all making cellphone calls attractive to Europeans. It is up against the wall now. CDMA is the only way out and 3G will be the technology. There was less competition in the USA until recently so that was also a factor, but that has rapidly changed. It's a new ball-game now and the cellphone service providers have been putting blood in their mouths, so cdmaOne is roaring across the USA and world. 3G CDMA is preparing to cover Europe. Globalstar is nearly ready to provide service in Europe. GSM is toast. Game over. Maurice