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Technology Stocks : Loral Space & Communications -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: dougjn who wrote (2421)	4/2/1998 1:45:00 PM
From: Valueman	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 10852

A few points--you say,"Maybe the result will be that I* will pay off the balking locals in some way." They are--they are offering options on the stock. That is very expensive payment and dilutive as well. A close read of Loral's 10-K reassures me that the majority of G's revenues are destined to come from local/regional calling. That means that the charges will be reasonable(affordable) for the local population. The worries over tail charges on long distance calls are unfounded. Read the 10-K yourself. A local call will have a completely different cost make-up than a long distance call. G will excel here. It only makes sense--people in India will call Indians, people in China will call fellow Chinese, etc. I also agree that in the case of long distance calls outside the gateway area, the local service provider, as well as the gateway operator are going to make sure they are using the most possible capacity on those satellites passing over their territory. They will deal--I assure you! If the demand is for long distnce at "x" price, then they will lower the price to that level. All of this spells well for G* who will collect the same fee regardless, until pressure reaches a point where they must lower rates. We will see how it unfolds.

To: dougjn who wrote (2421)	4/2/1998 3:41:00 PM
From: Dragonfly	Respond to of 10852

This is getting annoying. "The actual cost of completing a G* long distance leg of a call will be among the lowest long distance costs anywhere. " Unsupported. In fact, by doing deals with local telcos, who have historically jacked up prices, we may find that G* prices are higher than Iridium. Price is not the same as cost. "Moreover, any country that chooses to can prohibit I's targeted world business travelers from bringing in their phones. " They can do the same thing with Globalstar phones as well. Iridium is a fair way thru getting approval in the countries it wants to operate in. In fact, I beleive it is further than G, but even if it isn't, saying that "Any country that wants to" is unsubstantiated FUD. If you were to say "G* has %80 of the countries while I* has only %50" then that would be useful info... instead you make a broad generalization without substantiation. I challenge you to name a single country that will prevent I* phones and not G* phones. All this cheerleading is getting quite absurd. Iridium has %80 of their network in orbit, while Globalstar has only %10. Since my purchases earlier this year, my I* is up over %50, and my G* is down 0.5% (as of close yesterday). This is because the market is valuing hte completion of the business plan and I* is a lot farther along than G. Why do you feel the need to bash I? If you're confident in your G* investment, why post these long tirades about I's percieved negatives with no mention of its advantages or Gs weaknesses? Dragonfly

To: dougjn who wrote (2421)	4/2/1998 8:46:00 PM
From: Dragonfly	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10852

"Moreover, any country that chooses to can prohibit I's targeted world business travelers from bringing in their phones. " Quite the contrary, my friend. I planned to have roaming agreements with 50 countries by the time they started service. However, as of the time the 10K I'm reading was written, they had agreements with 90 countries! They are ahead of schedule in this regard. And while your comment is still true,of BOTH systems, the implication is quite wrong. It seems a lot of you guys are forgetting that Iridium's plan is to use local Cellular networks wherever possible, just like Globalstar. Dragonfly