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Technology Stocks : Qualcomm Incorporated (QCOM) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Voltaire who wrote (42279)	9/23/1999 10:43:00 AM
From: Ruffian	Respond to of 152472

Qualcomm CEO Bloomberg> Qualcomm CEO Sees 1 Mln Globalstar Satellite Phone Customers Qualcomm CEO Sees 1 Mln Globalstar Satellite Phone Customers San Diego, California, Sept. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Qualcomm Inc. Chief Executive Irwin Jacobs said Globalstar Telecommunications Ltd., the satellite-telephone operator for which it's making equipment, can reach a million customers pretty quickly. Globalstar counts the world's the largest wireless-services company, Vodafone AirTouch Plc, among its partners. The company will officially announce the availability of its service at Telecom '99 in Geneva next month. Of course, investors will be concerned about Globalstar's prospects, Jacobs said, since Iridum LLC and ICO Global Communications Ltd., two other satellite-telephone services providers, have had to see bankruptcy court protection from creditors. ''It'll be largely a soft launch,'' he said of Globalstar's expected announcement. ''Then, gradually, each operator will decide when it's appropriate to go into the full commercial launch. I would expect much of that will happen about the beginning of the year.'' Jacobs said he expects to see demand for satellite phones rise as the regional operators ''do their part'' to market and support the service. ''I won't predict anything, but I would hope we get fairly quickly past the million (subscriber) mark,'' he said. That milestone could be reached in ''a year, optimistically,'' he said, ''but probably more than a year.'' Selling the Handset Business Jacobs, who is also the company's chairman, said in an interview at PCS '99 in New Orleans that Qualcomm is talking with ''several different parties'' about buying its wireless handset business by the end of the year. ''There are several worldwide companies that have expressed interest, so we're now exploring that,'' he said, without being more specific. ''We'd like to see (the sale) result in another strong manufacturer that perhaps has a more worldwide presence than we have,'' he said. The new owner could choose to keep using the Qualcomm name in the U.S., however. Selling the handset business also means Qualcomm will have to determine the future of its Qualcomm Personal Electronics joint venture with Sony Corp. The venture started as a cooperative manufacturing operation, to help both companies make phones using the code-division multiple access -- or CDMA -- technology that Qualcomm invented. ''What we expected ... was that they would end up with 90 percent of the sales because of their very strong brand name, and we would end up with maybe 10 percent,'' Jacobs said. ''But over time it actually went the other way.'' Sony decided to exit the North American CDMA handset business in the third quarter, but remains part of the joint venture for now. Qualcomm is also looking at ways to expand its OmniTRACS business, which lets companies manage fleets of vehicles, he said. The business is profitable and generates cash, Jacobs said without providing details.

To: Voltaire who wrote (42279)	9/23/1999 10:55:00 AM
From: MileHigh	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 152472

For the non-expert, I am assuming this is huge because it would give Sprint the opportunity to expand their CDMA network into Europe!? TIA~ MileHigh