Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

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

To: djane who wrote (4087)	4/23/1999 2:25:00 AM
From: djane	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 29987

CNNfn. Iridium CEO opts to leave. Wall Street registers limited reaction to Edward Staiano's departure April 22, 1999: 5:25 p.m. ET NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Iridium LLC, operator of the world's first global wireless satellite telephone network, said Thursday its vice chairman and chief executive officer Edward Staiano resigned. The Washington-based wireless communications company named John Richardson interim chief executive, effective immediately. Richardson had served as chief executive of the company's African operations. A committee has been formed to find a permanent successor to Staiano. Staiano's resignation comes less than a month after the company's chief financial officer stepped down and at a time when the company faces significant financial challenges -- the most serious being an $800 million line of credit that its banks are clamoring over. Backed by a group led by Motorola Inc. (MOT), Iridium (IRID) went public in June 1997 at $20 a share. Its stock price almost tripled within a year, rising as high as $72 a share as investors clamored for a piece of the world's first wireless communications network linked by satellites -- to give users clear communications anywhere in the world. The party hasn't lasted. In the past three months alone Iridium's stock has tumbled to less than $24 a share -- partly a reflection of investors' wariness of the firm's outstanding debt. The company's banks have given it 60 days to meet sales goals or risk defaulting on the credit line. What's more, Iridium has been plagued by a shortage of its special phones and has persistently lacked a trained sales force to properly dispense its product, further damping sentiment about the company. Even so, some analysts are still optimistic about the company's future prospects. "I would say this will ultimately be viewed as a positive by the market," said John Bensche, an equity analyst at Lehman Brothers in New York. "The stock has suffered so much in the past three months, I don't think there's much more worse that can happen." Bensche said he's maintaining his "buy" rating on the stock. Shares of Washington-based Iridium fell 1-9/16 to 17-1/16 in New York. Motorola shares rose 1-7/16 to 81-5/8. home \| digitaljam \| contents \| search \| stock quotes \| help Copyright © 1999 CNN America, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

To: djane who wrote (4087)	4/25/1999 3:55:00 AM
From: djane	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 29987

More details on 4/22/99 CC (via G* yahoo thread) Top>Business and Finance>Stocks>Services>Communications Services>LOR (Loral Space & Communications Ltd) Thanks for the Conf Call #.. by: AR2BW (50/M/Orlando, FL) 13785 of 13793 Also to Valueman on SI for the reference. I listened last night and the up-to-date information hardens my resolve to see this investment out. Most of the conversation in the call, hosted by Mark Grossman from JP Morgan, revolved around the service rollout this summer and the phones. See the following link for the phones: globalstar.com Check out the car kit option. BS made his usual upbeat statements but updated the projected world market to 40M potential subscribers from the previous 30M. His statement is that the market cannot be fully served by the 5 potential systems due to spectrum limits so competitive pressures to lower prices will not come about for MSS in the near future. Everyone will be able to service all the subcribers they can stand if their prices are right. He sees no problem reaching the 7.5 million projected for G1 during its life. He stated that G only needed 14% of its business plan to breakeven (I guess that is the 1M subscribers mentioned in previous conference calls) The real news here during this call was the statements by three reps from the main service providers: Mike Cur(?) Airtouch (North American), John B Alagard (?) Dir Gen of TESAM (a joint venture with France Telcom, Alcatel and Alenia covering France, South Amercia, Turkey), and (Louigie?) of ELSACOM (Europe, Russia). Airtouch is setting up a central distributor, (Cellstar in Dallas, Tx), who will provide full service for sales, setup and repair for North Amercia (including canada/mexico) using the trimode Qualcom phone. They are setting up North America as a seamless network (SMSA) with 5 gateways and are looking at a one rate plan. I particularly like their statement "if a customer calls and orders a phone he will have a working one in hand the next day." They indicated that they will start shipping in August. They expect that about 1-2% of their current 65 Million cell phone subscribers will adopt G* over time (650,000-1,300,000!). They indicated that market penetration looks like in might go as higher in some remote areas in Canada. Tesam has 6 gateways and covers 31 countries. (1 in france, 4 in South America, 1 Turkey). Their market evaluation indicates that 90% of the calls will be in country with 5-8% to neighboring countries. Only a small % will be international which is why the roaming traveler, while covered, is not a target G* market. They have 60,000 of the 300,000 phones (dual mode Ericson and Telital) on order and will only roll out service to each market when phones are in the distribution channels. They expect that about 1-2% of their current 6-7 Million cell phone subscribers will adopt G* over time (60,000-120,000!). ELSACOM has 2 gateways and covers 24 countries in Europe. (1 in Italy, 1 under construction in Finland). ELSACOM has 25,000 of the 300,000 phones and expects to rollout in Sept/Oct as phones hit the distributors. Their subproviders in country are already starting to make additional orders for phones (GSM/G* dual modes) due to their market projections. They indicated that market penetration looks like 1% of their existing base also but might go as high as 10% in some remote areas in Ukraine and elsewhere. In many of their service areas G* represents a completely new service so there is no existing base. All of the providers have ad budgets targeted for the fall (a big christmas season!) with $40M from G* to set a world brand tone starting in the July time frame. BS is targeting the Geneva Telecom conference in October for a big splash. All in all, my investment looks pretty good in light of this information. That is about it. I might have missed something in 4 pages of notes. AR2BW Posted: 04/24/99, 1:39PM EDT as a reply to: Msg 13783 by halpcar2