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Technology Stocks : IRID - Iridium World Communications IPO Announced! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dragonfly who wrote (1600)	4/17/1999 9:15:00 PM
From: Moominoid	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 2693

I'm not being dogmatic here I am trying to learn. From what I had understood Globalstar would cover ocean areas. Is this wrong? I have said several times that you need a satellite phone in most of Australia and PNG. Only metropolitan areas and principal highways in the coastal region have much cellular coverage. If you go up in the mountains I can see from my office window in the centre of the capital city you won't be able to use a cellular phone. But if it is true that Globalstar really will cover all of 70N to 70S then only a small number of potential customers would need the extra coverage provided by Iridium. David

To: Dragonfly who wrote (1600)	4/18/1999 6:59:00 AM
From: Maurice Winn	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 2693

DF, You said: "... but there are many thousands of oil company employees around the globe, and who's going to provide service for them? If you're on a drilling platform in the middle of the ocean, Globalstar or ICO aren't even planning to offer service." That isn't quite correct. Globalstar will provide service to all the offshore drilling platforms. That is because they are all somewhere on the continental shelves, and mostly not too far at all from land. So they will get Globalstar coverage from nearby gateways. There are NO drilling or production platforms in the middle of the ocean. The middle of oceans is something over 4 km deep. No fun and no point drilling down there. There isn't any oil! Just some dead marine life accumulating in the conveyor belt of oceanic crust heading for the subduction zones under the continental shelves. Most cargo ship sailors would prefer Globalstar because the minutes will be cheap and in a year or two, they'll get coverage nearly everywhere. They'll have their normal radios as well, so Globalstar will just be for yakking. Iridium will be too expensive for yakking to the wife and kids. On shore, they'll be able to use their cheap Globalstar phones. Don't forget, they are only on the ships maybe half the time. The rest is loafing around at home or goofing off at the golf course. Maurice