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


To: tero kuittinen who wrote (13093)5/26/2000 11:12:00 AM
From: Rocket Scientist  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 29987
 
With all due respect to merry olde England, I'm a lot more interested in Vod's prices in N. America and Australia than in the UK.

In Australia, the USD equivalent rate for G* service within Oz is about 1$/minute.

The US rate is 1.30-1.50, typically; calls to England from the US via G* are 1.91 and G* USA customers phoning home from England pay 2.29$, virtually the same number Vod quotes for "calls from the UK to Western Europe and the USA."

The G* "domestic tariff" listed for UK is probably the least interesting number one can imagine. How many places within the British islands aren't already covered by GSM? Surely, UK G* users will be almost exclusively maritime or those travelling internationally.



To: tero kuittinen who wrote (13093)5/26/2000 5:56:00 PM
From: Maurice Winn  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 29987
 
Tero, the positive way to explain Vodafone's $2.24 per minute is that they really do think that they will maximize their profits at that price. Since they have a decent chunk of Globalstar LP in their share portfolio and have committed heaps to gateways and marketing and Chris Gent has been running around the place opening service in different places with some fanfare, rather than leaving it to a minion to do, as he would if he opened a GSM basestation in Eketahuna, they really do seem to have a significant degree of commitment.

If they plan to succeed, Vodafone really does have to protect their franchise which means they really do have to meet their contractual agreement on minutes sold and those minutes are enough for Globalstar LP to succeed.

I'm sure this train of thought is not beyond the wit of Chris Gent and his analysts. He's the biggest boss, putting his name on the front of Globalstar, no doubt planning to take all the credit for it. He would NOT be amused if his analysts are feeding him baloney.

Therefore, we can only conclude that they really do think they have got it right at $2.24 and that will create all the demand they can cope with just now and it'll maximize their long run income.

I've canvassed the Machiavellian option of them deliberately sending G! bust or to a low price so they can take it over, but the GGMDM would be trivial manipulation compared with that effort and they would stand to take real, large and serious losses if they failed as they would lose their exclusive franchise. G! would move in right alongside them and undercut them by $2 a minute and undercut their terrestrial minutes too.

I can only make it make sense if they really do think they are on a winner and will sell heaps at $2.24. The alternative is that people should sell Vodafone shares because Chris Gent and his advisers don't understand what the heck is going on and that is NOT a good characteristic for top management to demonstrate.

Maurice

PS: I feel so much better now that you have come and not gloated. I'm now giggling over the prospect of me getting liver cancer instead of GSTRF and how much more fun I'd be having. Thanks for the sympathy.

Even the GGMDM was a fizzer [so far] with the share price down 7% or so to $8.75. With Q! down another good chunk, this is a VERY fun day.



To: tero kuittinen who wrote (13093)7/20/2000 5:05:13 AM
From: Maurice Winn  Read Replies (2) | Respond to of 29987
 
So, what do you think now Tero? See, we are enjoying a huge growth rate in MOU, week over week. Go ahead and try to gloat over that! Not only that, Globalstar has already got 13,141 subscribers [mobile] and some law enforcement people tried out some handsets which were loaned to them. Oh yes, some petrol station operator in Mexico enquired about Globalstar phones.

As Bernie Schwartz says, we have now moved beyond "The Plan" and are now operating in actuality.

Remember too, that Globalstar has all along insisted that they will NOT be repeating Iridium's mistakes. Okay, there are passing similarities, I admit, from the over-priced minutes to the shape of the share price graph. But there are major differences too. For example, Iridium went bankrupt in 1999 and Globalstar will NOT be bankrupt in 1999. There are many other differentiators. For example, the G! satellites are now expected to last until 2010 whereas the Iridium satellites will fizzle out sooner so that even in the unlikely event of a bankruptcy, our [previously-owned] satellites will fly high for another decade.

"Die, evil scum" is NOT what Vodafone wishes for Globalstar. I'm sure that Vodafone wants nothing more than for Globalstar shareholders to enjoy a huge and early profit stream.

Mqurice