To: Joe Brown who wrote (3159 ) 2/26/1999 10:36:00 PM From: djane Respond to of 29987
Iridium Canada Rolls Out [G* mentions throughout]wirelessweek.com From the Feb. 22, 1999 issue of Wireless Week By James Careless OTTAWA--Canada may be a natural market for mobile satellite phones. After all, most of the country is rugged and remote, far from either wireline or cellular/personal communications services coverage. Phone service in Canada is focused on the heavily populated U.S.-Canada border and along major transportation routes. Iridium Canada launched service here last November. An investor in Iridium LLCthe global consortium underwriting the Iridium projectIridium Canada is co-owned by BCE Mobile Communications, Bell Canada International and Motorola Canada. As an investor, it has access to Iridium's constellation of 66 low-Earth orbit satellites. Iridium Canada hopes to attract "a wide mix" of clients, said Rob Eisses, Iridium product manager for Infosat Communications, which is marketing Iridium services across Canada. That mix includes "international business clients who are traveling around the world for the high-tech sector," Eisses said, plus people in oil and gas exploration, mining, forestry and national parks. In addition, Infosat wants to attract jet-setting executives who want to stay in touch wherever they are.To attract these people, Iridium is avoiding the mass-market route. [Hello?] Instead, it advertises in travel and trade magazines and on billboards located near airports: anywhere where movers and shakers might be found. According to Eisses, there are enough of them out there to make the venture worthwhile. "Over the next five years, we estimate that there's potentially 100,000 users for the product," he said. However, right now Iridium's subscriber base is substantially smaller. As of the start of 1999, it stood at about 150. These users pay a pretty penny for their phones, which Motorola Inc. and Kyocera Corp. manufacture. Each handset costs more than $3,000. Airtime rates range from $1.67 to $8.67 a minute.Because of these rates, Iridium Canada President Maurice Rompré doesn't expect the service to become a consumer commodity. "It's a very niche market application," he said. Given this, Rompré doesn't expect handset prices to drop due to volume sales either. That's because "there's no mass-market considerations for the price of the equipment," he added. However, Rompré is concerned [I'm sure - $1.40 break-even] about the impending launches of two more global satellite systemsGlobalstar LP and ICO Global Communications. "I don't think that the finance market is ready to support three systems," he said. "Market surveys are showing that we do have potential users to support two systems on a global basis," but not three. Globalstar will be the first challenger when it launches this fall. If Globalstar maintains its Web site promise to sell handsets at $1,000, Iridium could find itself in serious trouble. Meanwhile, ICO's impact is harder to assess. It's slated to launch here in 2000. Please send comments and suggestions on this Web site to jcollins@chilton.net Wireless Week, 600 S. Cherry St., #400, Denver, CO 80246 Voice: 303-393-7449, Fax: 303-399-2034 Published by Cahners Business Information © Copyright 1999. All rights reserved.