: Re: Iridium Flares to End?
Ed Troy (etroy@aeroconsult.com)
Sat, 07 Aug 1999 16:07:37 -0400
I would not worry about Iridium being abandoned. After all, it is already
bought and paid for. If they do go bankrupt, someone else will just buy the
assets for pennies on the dollar and have a goldmine. The main reason
Iridium is not working is that it is way too expensive, at more than
$5/minute. Once they get the price down to a buck a minute, or so, it will
take off, especially when they can sell the radios for well under $1000.
Early radios, as I understand, were something like $5K or more. Again, not
many people are willing to pay the price. But, the radios have come down to
about $1K now, and will get much cheaper as volume increases, and if
someone buys the assets for a few cents on the dollar, they will be able to
operate for reasonable, attractive rates. Thus, Iridium will survive, but
it will probably be held by other people.
Ed