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

To: David Wiggins who wrote (4192)	4/26/1999 1:33:00 PM
From: RMiethe	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 29987

Thanks for the cautionary note on the forest and the trees. I am by no means an expert on any of this, and just sort of restate information from sources I consider reputable and knowledgeable. The capacity issue seemed to be on everyone's mind again, so I thought I would check around for something more informative than I had posted last night, which turned out to be a sterile post given the reply I got this morning.

To: David Wiggins who wrote (4192)	4/27/1999 5:48:00 AM
From: Maurice Winn	Respond to of 29987

Quite right Dave, capacity can be added by just bunging another four satellites into orbit, and their capacity will be spread over nearby satellites thanks to the magic of CDMA and the ability of batteries to carry power over to the next busy place. But the issue is to maximize revenue for a given number of satellites, not to just put up more because 10% of the time busy signals are received while only 30% of possible capacity is used. The idea is to smooth demand so that NO busy signals are received and usage reaches 90% of capacity. Demand is best smoothed by price. This is not to detract from the important point you make that further constellations and broadband capability might come sooner rather than later. Once the first constellation is up, the reality of demand will be very quickly evident, as Iridium found. Only 8,000 voice customers by 31 March after 5 months operation, with no huge upsurge evident now that the handsets are available. I think the handset problems were exaggerated to cover the lack of demand. Iridium handset performance seems questionable according to sporadic reports - it would be nice to have something more than anecdotal reports on call quality, connection and dropped calls. Globalstar is working very well. Inmarsat is struggling to pretend they have a market to supply - sure there are many customers who would most benefit from their system, but there have to be enough of them to justify a $$multibillion effort. Poor people will be better served with geostationary service which will be VERY cheap and GEOs will handle data perfectly well. Those who are less impoverished can use Globalstar at more cost per minute but with no voice delay, a cute handset [in 1995 terms], an excellent voice quality. Maybe there will be a market between the two, but my money wouldn't want to check out the prospects until at least one voice system is successful. ICO should go on hold or cancel! Mqurice