CRUZTAKER
04-12-2003, 03:55 PM
I'm bored, so bear with me..........Article in USA Today.
Irridium based satellites, Motorola's $5 billion dollar mistake?
66 satellites placed in orbit, service $7 minute, phones +$3000 each. Not a popular buy, especially with rumors the satellites would fall from orbit within two years with a probability of 1 in 249 of a human getting bonked by fragments. Motorola was definately bumming...what a loss of money. In 2000, Iridium filed chapter 11. No one would buy them out. Until a retired, bored bussiness man and some backers offered $25 million. One-half cent on the dollar, what a deal, "that's like buying a $150k Porsche 911 for $750. The last time anyone consumated a deal like this was when the FRENCH wound up with just $15 million for the Louisianna purchase, WHICH IS PROBABLY THE UNDERLYING REASON THEY'RE TICKED OFF AT US!"
Now, free of debt, and operating at one tenth the cost, profit could be just around the corner. Calls were lowered to $1.50 a minute, and hardware around $1500 per phone. The US military recently signed a contract for unlimited use of 20,000 phones, and the British did similar. The military recently banned the press media from using any competitor sat phones as the Iraquis might track the signals. They cannot track the US based Iridium satellite calls. With some retesting, and addition of more sattelites, the system is now expected to stay 'up' for atleast 7 to 10 more years.
What a deal! I hope our spark plugs show them up as well and last far longer than expected. Talk about the right decision, some people have all the luck, and will likely prosper from this deal. :)
Irridium based satellites, Motorola's $5 billion dollar mistake?
66 satellites placed in orbit, service $7 minute, phones +$3000 each. Not a popular buy, especially with rumors the satellites would fall from orbit within two years with a probability of 1 in 249 of a human getting bonked by fragments. Motorola was definately bumming...what a loss of money. In 2000, Iridium filed chapter 11. No one would buy them out. Until a retired, bored bussiness man and some backers offered $25 million. One-half cent on the dollar, what a deal, "that's like buying a $150k Porsche 911 for $750. The last time anyone consumated a deal like this was when the FRENCH wound up with just $15 million for the Louisianna purchase, WHICH IS PROBABLY THE UNDERLYING REASON THEY'RE TICKED OFF AT US!"
Now, free of debt, and operating at one tenth the cost, profit could be just around the corner. Calls were lowered to $1.50 a minute, and hardware around $1500 per phone. The US military recently signed a contract for unlimited use of 20,000 phones, and the British did similar. The military recently banned the press media from using any competitor sat phones as the Iraquis might track the signals. They cannot track the US based Iridium satellite calls. With some retesting, and addition of more sattelites, the system is now expected to stay 'up' for atleast 7 to 10 more years.
What a deal! I hope our spark plugs show them up as well and last far longer than expected. Talk about the right decision, some people have all the luck, and will likely prosper from this deal. :)