IRID - Iridium World Communications IPO Announced! Message Board

To: SoliRA who wrote (279)	12/9/1997 12:43:00 PM
From: Fledermaus	of 2691

About CIA. Remember we were talking about third world governments purchasing MSS phones, and not USA government. CIA does not tap US citizens in the US. That's FBI's role (with a court authorization, yes). CIA spies abroad. But this was only a recreational subject, I was not really serious on it. (There are other ways of circumventing the tapping problem) You mentioned 1 percent. Of what? Iridium says one pct of CELLULAR phones for their iridium/iridium services. Then you must add their other 3% for their roaming services for cellular phones. These are worldwide numbers. Rural market is probably 10% of Iridium's market and 50-60% of Globalstar's .Latin America has a huge rural telephony problem. The distances are too big. You probably have the wrong idea about L.America rural areas. Sharing of a phone is more for small villages than for farms and countryside leisure properties. But, yes, sharing would happen the same way you would use a friend's phone when visiting him. Public phone booths would be used in villages. Or small "switching boxes" such as Iridium's MXU (Mobile Exchange Unit) through fixed phones in up to 100 homes would be connected to the satellite system.