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

To: tero kuittinen who wrote (7036)	8/31/1999 6:51:00 AM
From: Maurice Winn	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 29987

Tero, I agree, there seems to be a lack of urgency and an intention to have a nice, orderly, well-planned, high-priced rollout in due course, much like a government department or military campaign. Loss of revenue is gushing at $5bn per year or $15m per day. This is undesirable. In another couple of months, there will be 10bn minutes per year going to waste, generating not a cracker for the shareholders, nor goodwill nor anything. Simply lost in space. Globalstar phones won't be in the luxury item category. No more than any useful tool is a luxury item. Neither does it look like a luxury item for the idle rich. This is a communications device. The only one which will work out in the sticks. If you want talk, you buy this! Okay, it's brute-sized and the aerial is threatening looking, so it isn't a high fashion accessory [though the 4 wheel drive SUV crowd might think it fashionable on Rodeo Drive]. But to compare it with the Nokia 8810 is off-beam. That is a genuine luxury item and as you say, selling the 8810 cheap would be crazy. People get a fashion statement as well as functionality pizazz with that little cutie. I think it would be very dodgy to position the Globalstar brute in the same way and go for the smart set with money to burn. I don't believe they have got their marketing strategy figured out and that's why we are getting conflicting comments on minute prices, handset prices and nudge nudge wink wink. Things are changing quickly with Iridium seemingly doomed and probably ICO too. What looked like a good strategy 6 months ago is probably not looking so good now. Also, the constant comments we see that the Globalstar business plan hasn't changed in years seems odd given the drama which has unfolded. Going from 15% expected market share to perhaps 90% of the satphone business should result in a different business plan. Hyundai packed a sad. Delays of a year and other variables should also have had a business plan impact. The first thing that should be planned is to bring the second constellation forward to fill the void left by Iridium, ICO, Ellipso and Odyssey. Gateways in remote areas should be planned or a higher constellation to cover those remote areas. 30m subscribers should be planned for by 2007 instead of 6m. But the biggest change is that there is a major hump at startup when the whole world will hold their breath to see if Globalstar will flame out or soar. That's different from how things looked just a year ago when sales seemed assured and many buying Iridium thought $72 a share was a bargain. Let's not get into this 'luxury product' nonsense. This is a brute phone for SUVs, Montana survivalists, desert roamers, long haul truckers, and the NRA crowd who go out to the bush with their artillery where I suppose they murder sparrows and each other since everything else is extinct or protected. None of these people should be seen dead without one! Maurice PS: Those with OPM should get one too. [OPM = other people's money]. Yes, normal people who can afford it or have good business reasons should get them too if they don't want to be in those really annoying dead spots out of coverage.

To: tero kuittinen who wrote (7036)	8/31/1999 8:38:00 AM
From: Michael Allard	Respond to of 29987

Tero wrote: "Iridium couldn't create interest with 140 million bucks" Iridium claimed that the campaign generated more than 1 Million qualified leads. They generated 1 Million qualified leads Tero, and that was in the midst of Handset Shortages, Quality problems, and $3,000 Handsets. Are you now telling me that you had faith in QCOM from the investment standpoint and believed in CDMA's superiority the whole time? TDMA is NOT the fastest growing technology, no mater how those statisticians choose to paint it. Tero, are you aware that when pre-paid callers re-subscribe (as they do many times per year) on a GSM network that the GSM industry counts that as a new subscriber? Maybe Handset Sales would be a more realistic metric. It would certainly mean more to us investors, of course, the subscriber count game is just that, - a game. Any bets that when 3G comes out, w/ W-CDMA that these marketing people will call it a GSM system? And all the anti-CDMA people will say they were right, CDMA (the American flavor) never made it to 3G. Of course, QCOM will need the largest accounting department in the industry to track all the royalties on this non-American Hybrid GSM system.

To: tero kuittinen who wrote (7036)	8/31/1999 8:58:00 AM
From: Michael Allard	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 29987

A Little off topic (RE CDMA) Tero challenged: "Off topic. Michael - why don't you show me a quote of where I predicted the "demise" of CDMA? " My response: I'm a little surprised you are changing your tune regarding CDMA, but since you challenged I offer the following quotes from a 12/13/97 post on the QCOM board (Post 6368): "Surely by now even the most stalwart CDMA proponents realize that Europe will forever remain free of QCOM's clutches: the third generation standard will be decided next month and that standard will be compatible with GSM and adopted by all Western European countries, this has already been agreed upon. " and, "The weakness that a new technology faces in the time of depression is obvious: experimental systems are the first to get the axe when infrastructure spending has to be cut. Many of the Asian countries already have an expansive GSM network: if they start cutting back on telecom spending it will be cheaper to stop CDMA introduction than phase out GSM and introduce CDMA instead. Moreover, I have seen no signs of CDMA phones catching up technologically with GSM phones." and, "Now that the country where majority of the CDMA subscribers in the world is diving into an economical abyss the narrow base of CDMA is coming to haunt the technology. There will be major revisions in Korean subscriber growth estimates." Hey - you were right about the Korean revisions! There are more anti-CDMA statements in the referenced post. I guess I stand corrected though, Tero, in this post you did not use the term "demise". Sorry. Good Luck to All!

To: tero kuittinen who wrote (7036)	8/31/1999 5:34:00 PM
From: Veiko Herne	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 29987

Dear Tero "Re: Airtouch refuses to comment on international call rates, for example. That 1,50 dollars is the price of one minute within USA. They didn't even speculate what the USA-Europe call rate might be..." Assuming, that You are from Finland, You can call to Radiolinja and verify this. Radiolinja seems to be a G* partner in Finland. When I look for global phone system some months ago, I contacted with Iridium and Globalstar. Iridium sent me to "Institute of space science" in Moscow (what a odd place to buy a phone) and from Globalstar I got first letter to contact with Radiolinja in Finland. So, I called to Radiolinja office in Tallinn and they have even few persons hired here specially for Globastar project. They assumed, that all the service will be ready by the end of 1999 and predicted the rate to be around 60-65 US cents/minute at start, but will be at GSM level within few years. And the nearest gateway will be in Finland. In june, I got next letter from Globarstar even with pictures of available phones. This letter stated, that I can sign up to service until september and service will be available in october. But instead Radiolinja, the local contact was mentioned in Ukraine. I was again calling to Radiolinja local office about the status and they told, that even Eastern Europe will be managed from Ukraine, Ukraine can't provide me a dual service. Radiolinja also mentioned, that the agreement with Globalstar and them are not yet fully agreed, so they can't sign me to service. There was no changes in predicted usage rate from there side. If You are in Finland, You can contact with Radiolinja and maybe light me more up. Veiko P.S. Estonian Telecom (local monopoly) are charging a call to Iridium number at the rate of $12/minute.