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


To: A.J. Mullen who wrote (4357)4/30/1999 7:44:00 PM
From: Andmoreagain  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 29986
 
A.J. Mullen: Your points are well taken, and are ones I have had reservations about all along. But I doubt you'll find many who agree on this board. Nevertheless, these questions must be aired, or all we will have here is a committee of yes-men(women).



To: A.J. Mullen who wrote (4357)4/30/1999 7:47:00 PM
From: Rocket Scientist  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 29986
 
Where did you get the idea that G* phones won't work in cars? In fact "car kit" adapters will be available to enable hands free operation of the phone while driving. As for working in buildings, the company has said that the phone won't necessarily work in the core of high rise buildings. I believe it's likely to work pretty well inside typical rural/suburban structures, though that remains to be proven as far as I know.



To: A.J. Mullen who wrote (4357)4/30/1999 8:08:00 PM
From: RMiethe  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 29986
 
Eastern Europe has pitiful cellular coverage. This is Poland, Czecholovakia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Romania, Yugolsavia, Macedonia, Montnegro. A wide swathe of northern Sweden, Finland, and Norway have no cellular coverage. To say Europe has good cellular coverage must mean all countries in Europe west of these countries and south of the northland. Major portions of Turkey, Iraq, and Syria are also without coverage, as is most of Northern Africa.

This is not to say that Globalstar will get cusotmers there. But it is to say that Europe definitely does not have good cellular coverage, and this holds for the regions closest to it-- northern Africa and the northern mid-East. A study that I respect does see Northern Africa (on the southern Mediterranean) getting 20,000 customers (I exclude Israel in this). That I respect it doesn't mean I am right, but the numbers looked well worked out.

China Telecom, a Globalstar partner, is the wild card. Forget Air Touch and Vodaphone, as far as I am concerned. If China "gives away" the Globalstar Erricson phones to follow the Chinese government's call/requirement for more communications capabilities for the rural populations of China, all the discussions on these boards (including my own comments) will have been pretty much simple downtime. I personally don't see Chinese goldcoasters using a Globalstar phone, but I can make a case, I think, that rural areas can give Globalstar half million customers. I personally think you follow the orders at Schlumberger Ltd. for the Globalstar "pay phone", and China Telecom's marketing brochures come this summer.

Just my opinion, but we don't have that long to find out how China Tel works out in this puzzle of numbers.



To: A.J. Mullen who wrote (4357)4/30/1999 10:30:00 PM
From: John Stichnoth  Read Replies (3) | Respond to of 29986
 
Just to add to Rocket's point: The cellular phone part of the handset will work just as well as any cellular inside buildings or cars. The issue is the strength of the incoming signal being diluted by all that matter in the walls and roofs of buildings, given the weak satellite signal. CommSatman had a super post with some real numbers:

Message 9191471

He doesn't address the different types of buildings, or cars or planes. I'd love to see some equivalent numbers for different structure types, for instance, to get a better feel.

Someone on the board made a terrific point about not "thinking like a first-worlder". We're so used to all the high-tech gadgets and conveniences around us. We sometimes forget the huge numbers of people who are sometimes or always outside of the range of our conveniences. I had a friend, who I've lost touch with, who worked for Hercules, and would have to travel regularly into inner China, to inspect mines or ore or something. He would be virtually out of touch during these trips, and would have loved to have a phone like the G*. And the company would have gladly paid for it, so they could keep in touch with him. How many people are there who travel like that? And how many places are there like that? Lots.

This is not a replacement for a cell phone where cellular coverage is available. It's a tool for areas where cells don't exist.