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

To: ebg51 who wrote (26168)	11/14/2006 4:24:41 PM
From: Maurice Winn	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 29987

Hi again ebg. That made me a bit nervous in a way: < 1) the concept of having a great idea and trying to bring it to market 2) developing a subscriber base 3) selling the necessary equipment to use the system> We, [son and I, with him being the one who has done it all and me just adding a bit of money] are right now going live with zenbu.net.nz which involves all three of those points. It's a wifi hotspot business. I hope it's nothing like Globalstar in business success, management and don't see many parallels really. Lots of businesses have those three issues. <Globalstar on the other hand is making some good moves & showing signs of life. But there does not seem to be that manic effort to stay alive and thrive. They are going to need that drive or else they could very well lose.> I think it's fair to say that the people involved in making Globalstar happen are perhaps not making manic efforts, but certainly serious efforts to keep it alive and make it thrive. They are even closing, albeit gradually, on the minute price which I think they should be offering to subscribers while the system is lightly loaded. I disagree with quite a few Globalstar Inc marketing ideas, so they could do a lot better. But they now have the resources to launch the spare satellites which will plug holes which resulted from dead satellites, which will bring continuous coverage back up to a solid level. They have got the new handset ready to sell and that's an important matter. The 20th century handset was well past its use-by date. They have got data on the go and that's a good addition to the business. They have got the Alaska gateway going and coverage is now comprehensive around the world. globalstar.com They have got over 200,000 subscribers and are competing for about a million existing users of satellite services. What is Iridium going to do as their system dies? Who is going to be brave enough to put up the money to resurrect the obsolete satellite to satellite Iridium system which is locked into 20th century technology? Iridium can just go on plugging gaps in their obsolete technology, but they don't have an easy technological pathway to integrate their system with worldphone CDMA-based technologies which QCOM's Globalstar system can do. For Iridium to start again with a brand new constellation with 21st century technology is a very big ask and I can't see why anyone would back that. Ocean, Africa, south Asia, and polar coverage are issues for Globalstar but those regions could be covered with a few 10,000 km satellites. Globalstar phones can connect to a satellite at 2,000 or, I guess, even 3,000 if the satellites were at a high elevation. With satellites with better antennae, another 7,000 km of so shouldn't be a big deal. Half a dozen 10,000 km satellites following the equator would provide a nice addition to coverage. If Iridium fails to survive, most of those subscribers would swing their support to Globalstar, which would be a big boost. Since Iridium's constellation design life was 5 years and it's now nearing 10 years old, it must be looking fairly fragile to the operators and I guess has some holes. A decision will be needed and that will involve at least another $1 billion being launched, and probably more like $1.5bn or even $2 billion. The huge advantage of Globalstar over most satellite phone services is the lack of voice delay which geostationary satellites all suffer. Geostationary voice delay is extremely annoying and unless there is a major cost saving, people won't put up with it. Because Globalstar can provide voice services at something like 10c a minute, there is not much cost saving by going to a nasty voice delay service. GlobalstarUSA is currently offering 29c a minute calls which isn't too bad as cellphone pricing goes. And 16c a minute if subscribers are prepared to pay $1,440 per year. That's starting to look like competitive p-----g [ah, the good old days, when pricing was a dirty word and subscribers were theoretically rich and stupid and didn't care about price and would pay $3 a minute for limited coverage calls with clunker phones, no roaming and $2,000 for the handset]. I would keep cutting the minute price until the constellation is full, or the handset production line can't keep up, even if the phone price is $1,000 each. Cut Iridium off where it hurts, in the wallet! An all-out price war would be great fun. The constellation is obviously not full since Globalstar is cutting prices in the USA so heavily. It wouldn't be too bright to frustrate existing users by denying them service due to overloading the constellation. A reputation for reliable service is vital. Mqurice