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

To: MarkR37 who wrote (12940)	5/18/2000 8:13:00 PM
From: FreekBro	Respond to of 29987

Globalstar launches service in Central America Thursday May 18, 5:32 pm Eastern Time biz.yahoo.com SAN SALVADOR, May 18 (Reuters) - Satellite telephone company Globalstar Telecommunications Ltd. (NasdaqNM:GSTRF - news) said on Thursday it was initiating operations in Central America, a market of some 32 million people, after a $25 million investment. Services are already available in El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Panama, with service in other Central American nations expected to begin within a few months Juan Ramon Porras, chief of regional operations for Globalstar Americas, told Reuters. Porras said the Globalstar digital telecommunication system is based on a constellation of 48 low-orbit satellites, and said the company also has 16 land stations, one of which is in Nicaragua.

To: MarkR37 who wrote (12940)	5/18/2000 9:21:00 PM
From: Maurice Winn	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 29987

Mark, your sentiments have been fully expressed here. The underlying problem is that the Service Providers totally control the retail price. If they think they can sell all they want to sell at $1.50 a minute, that's what they'll charge. If Globalstar LP was to cut the price to them, they might just keep the increased profit and leave the retail price the same. So we'd lose revenue and sell no more minutes. One way is to set up competition between Service Providers, offering cheaper wholesale prices in return for low retail minute prices, for a limited time. The Service Providers who seriously slash their retail prices would gain market share at the expense of the uninterested. But until the gateways are up and running and Service Providers really ready to sell, there is presumably not enough mileage in that, or Globalstar LP would already have done so. They did include in their arrangements with Service Providers the possibility of joint reductions in price [I saw that a few years ago, maybe in an IPO document or somewhere]. But be consoled that the Service Providers have been cutting prices and so has QUALCOMM and Globalstar LP hasn't given away any wholesale price [other than the bulk sales they arranged earlier in the year for $19m or so]. That is a good sign since it means Verizon and others are continuing to develop momentum in G! and not whining at or depending on G! to cut wholesale prices. Maybe they did whine and G! told them, quite correctly, to get lost and comply with their Service Provider business plans or lose their gateways and exclusivity. I'm all for a jointly, dramatically reduced minute price, but I mean joint! The Service Providers are way out of line with their retail prices and have apparently started to figure that out. Be assured they aren't idiots. Idiots don't get $4bn CDMA satellite systems up and running successfully, which G! is. The need is for Chris Gent to really push his Verizon crowd to make G! happen and happen fast. I think he understands the need for that. Maurice

To: MarkR37 who wrote (12940)	5/19/2000 8:47:00 AM
From: Sawtooth	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 29987

<<I just don't understand why they are waiting to run out of money before they slash prices. ..... a full system at break even is 1000 times better than a bankrupt/empty system with high margins?>> Agreed, Mark. They should be using those minutes up as fast as they can if they aren't sold. Generating interest through free demo calls, free minutes with package commitment, etc. Real-life, real-people usage, out of the revenue stream or not, would also build credibility for the system. I don't like the "if we build it they will come" approach. BWDIK. ......VVVVVVVVVVVV