Dec 25 2008
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“ While Skyterra will still provide service to governments and people in remote locations — the traditional market — it will also seek to sell satellite coverage to cellular network operators as a service differentiator. The approach would essentially gives cellular carriers the ability to offer satellite coverage to customers for a fee.
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Satellite Player Skyterra Ready to Try Again
I haven’t looked at the cell-phone-by-satellite business in a few years, but I’m still both intrigued and completely skeptical. Intrigued because complete coverage of the US is clearly valuable to some segment of the population (including rural public-service folks). But odds are the service will be pricey and the handsets will be ugly, and the combination will be too tough to overcome.
I hope I’m wrong. A little more competition in voice and data services can only be a good thing.
