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

To: FJB who wrote (12722)	5/13/2000 5:39:00 AM
From: Geoff Goodfellow	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 29986

For instance, if you want to communicate via voice over most of the earth's land mass, your only option right now is Globalstar. It would require several $TRILLION of investment to "cover everything" via cellular as some of the dimmer commentators have claimed will happen by 2005. Actually that's not true (with Globalstar), but is true with Inmarsat -- have a gander at Inmarsat's global coverage map at inmarsat.org. Inmarsat (http://www.inmarsat.org) is currently operating its 3rd successful constellation, has $400 million in annual sales, nearly 200K customers and is profitable. Here's a story out yesterday about the 4th constellation they just ordered up: Inmarsat to make broadband play By Jeffry Bartash, CBS.MarketWatch.com Last Update: 5:38 PM ET May 12, WASHINGTON (CBS.MW) - Inmarsat, the mobile satellite operator that plans to go public soon, is the latest carrier to unveil plans to offer high-speed data and Internet connections. Inmarsat acknowledged Thursday that it will spend $1.4 billion, $700 million initially, to launch three new high-altitude satellites for its broadband service, slated to start by 2004. The company is joining a market crowded with potential high-speed satellite aspirants, including Hughes Electronics (GMH: news, msgs), Gilat Satellite Networks (GILTF: news, msgs), Astrolink, the Teledesic project backed by cellular pioneer Craig McCaw, and privately held Isky. The difference is, Inmarsat is already a success provider of two-way mobile satellite communications. The UK-based consortium has more than $400 million in annual sales and positive cash flow - basically the ability to pay its own bills. That should make funding easier to come by. Some of the other networks, particularly those based on expensive low-altitude systems that require dozens of costly satellites, are likely to face problems raising money in light of the failure of Iridium and the struggles of Globalstar Communications (GSTRF: news, msgs), two providers of satellite phones. Many investors are skittish about putting money into systems for which there may be no market. At present, Inmarsat has close to 200,000 customers, mostly servicing governments as well as industries such as oil, gas, mining, airline and maritime. It hopes its broadband network can expand that number to half a million. The company said the broadband network would offer speeds up to 432K, or about eight times faster than a standard 56K modem. Current wireless Internet speeds top out at 9.6K or 14.4K, though faster services are on the way. If things go as planned, Inmarsat will sell a portion of the broadband service to the public next year, drawing to some extent on support of its current investors. While Inmarsat is one of the oldest satellite services, there?s still a question on how much demand will exist for sky-based broadband. The group?s network will consist of a small number of satellites place high, thereby keeping costs down, but high-altitude satellites usually face delays of a half-second or so. Which means companies that need reliable real-time communications may have to look elsewhere, a factor that could limit demand. Whatever the case, Inmarsat?s entry is only going to make it more difficult for other projects to get off the ground. With competition accelerating in the broadband market from traditional phone carriers, cable operators and wireless providers, satellite rivals will face a shrinking market. cbs.marketwatch.com