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

To: Rocket Scientist who wrote (11702)	4/13/2000 4:43:00 PM
From: Bux	Respond to of 29986

FLASH PRODUCT REVIEW BY STEPHEN H. WILDSTROM APRIL 13, 2000 Can Globalstar Make Consumers Forget Iridium? Still bulky, this satellite phone's quality is better and service is cheaper. The question now: Is there a market? "Globalstar is not Iridium" is a mantra heard often from the promoters of the world's newest satellite-phone system. And it's hardly surprising that Globalstar, a worldwide consortium of communications companies, wants to draw as sharp a contrast as possible with Iridium, its bankrupt and liquidation-bound competitor. It's true, Globalstar is definitely better than Iridium. The question is whether it's enough better to sustain a business. I tried out a Qualcomm Globalstar phone from Globalstar USA. While smaller than the Motorola Iridium phone I tried a while back, the 14-oz. Qualcomm unit is still a behemoth by the standards of today's wireless handsets. And walking around with the 7-in.-long, 1/2-in.-diameter satellite antenna extended makes it hard to remain inconspicuous. REMOTE AUDIENCE. The phone operates in either satellite or terrestrial mode. In the latter, it uses the Sprint PCS network and functions like an ordinary wireless handset. Because there cannot be any obstructions between a satellite and the phone, satellite mode works only outdoors and the antenna must be swiveled so that it points straight up at the sky. Unfortunately, you must switch manually between the two modes, which have two different numbers for incoming calls. Two killers for Iridium were voice quality and cost. With Globalstar, I had no difficulty linking to satellites, and the call quality was about as good as a conventional digital-wireless system. The handset retails for $1,500. Service plans start at $29.99 per month, plus $1.69 per minute of satellite time, while international roaming costs $1.79 per minute, plus international connection charges. Those prices are steep but look like a bargain compared with Iridium, which cost up to $7 a minute. The challenge facing Globalstar is whether there's a big enough market for the service to make it viable. Since the design of the system began in 1991, the terrestrial wireless services have grown at a breathtaking pace. These days, you have to be somewhere truly remote -- the heart of the Gobi desert or high atop a peak in the Himalayas -- to be very far from conventional wireless service. Certainly, there are people living in remote corners of the world who could benefit from this service, but the sad fact is that most of them can't afford it. Those who can, the geologists, engineers, and others who work the outback, are few in number. Iridium never attracted more than 55,000 subscribers, barely a tenth of what the company said it needed to be a going concern. How much better Globalstar can do is an open question. Wildstrom is Technology & You columnist for Business Week. Watch for his Flash Product Reviews on BW Online. Have a question or comment? Leave a message on our Tech & You forum EDITED BY DOUGLAS HARBRECHT businessweek.com