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: Valueman who wrote (4407)	5/1/1999 9:19:00 PM
From: Maurice Winn	Respond to of 29987

Life in the Big Smoke about 80 - 90% of people worldwide now live in 20,000 population towns or bigger. There are over 5 billion people, so that makes about 4.5bn living in the big smoke. That leaves about a billion out in the bush. Most of the Big Smokers also go travelling in the bush from time to time. That means a LOT of people run out of terrestrial service. Which means, as you say, there are a LOT of prospective customers for Globalstar. It is such a huge pain in the neck to get stuck somewhere without contact, that a LOT of people will want a security device which will work out in the bush. The handsets will sell. We want the minutes to sell too. It's easy to do that - price them right, which means cheap. That will have the added benefit of seeing off ICO and Ellipso before they get overly excited about how much profit they are going to make. With luck, they won't even bother launching when they see 5, 10 or 15c per minute for Globalstar. Maybe a set fee per month and unlimited calling. The marketing should be fun. Maurice

To: Valueman who wrote (4407)	5/1/1999 10:45:00 PM
From: Andmoreagain	Respond to of 29987

Valueman and others: The argument that there are millions of people who will buy a Globalstar phone so they can telephone home while travelling the deserts of Nevada is ridiculous. If it were truly important to have this capability, Iridium would have signed more than 10,400 users by March 31st. If you're banking on this market, and if Globalstar is banking on this market, everyone is going to be disappointed. The only real market I can see is the "unserved and underserved" telephony market in developing countries; but the price had better be well under $1.00.

To: Valueman who wrote (4407)	5/1/1999 11:50:00 PM
From: Mr. Adrenaline	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 29987

Let me add to that, if I may. I live in Silicon Valley. The mecca of geek gadgets. There are cell towers everywhere. I can afford a G* phone, too. I can also get on my bike, ride west 10 minutes, and be outside cell range. Where am I? In a open space preserve along with about another 5,000 visitors a day. Some of whom I see cursing at the lack of cell coverage. I'll buy one, that's for sure. Mr A

To: Valueman who wrote (4407)	5/4/1999 10:25:00 AM
From: John Stichnoth	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 29987

Valueman, I owe you a big thank you. Just got off the phone with Jeannette Cronin, at G* and Loral IR. She verified what you said, as follows: At Kickoff in 3Q (Sept 30?), they will have 30,000-plus handsets available for 8-9 "major" gateways, 130,000 available at year-end for 16 gateways, and 300,000 for 24 gateways during 2Q'00 (which could be as late as June 30, of course). (And that's where I wasn't clear--was the slow rollout of the gateways--Yes, they will have 300,000 when the gateways go live, but most of the gateways won't go live for another year.) On pricing: Of course, the SP's are able to charge what they want. Any landline charge will be in addition to the G* and SP charge. Most calls will be within gateway. She used 47 cents as the "average" wholesale charge from G* to the SP's, being about the midpoint of 35-55 cents. The price is higher for small volumes. As volumes increase G* charges less. Thus there is an incentive for the SP's to get minutes ramped up. The $1.50-2.00/min charge can be read as confidence by Airtouch that there is sufficient demand out there, she said. (Or, it could be an indication that their share of 30,000 handsets is a pretty limited supply, I say). Airtouch sees their market split 50-50 in two parts--"Vertical", she used offshore drillers and forestry as examples, and "Gap Filler" (Who on the thread talked about not being able to talk from Phoenixville, PA? I presume that's gap filler potential market). The "Vertical" issue ties in nicely with djane's irid article posted last night. Again, thanks. As I said in one of my posts, I've found your contributions to be consistently valuable. If your statements had come from someone else I might have blown them off. I'm glad I didn't. Best, John