Who will use satellite communications systems?

Who will use satellite communications systems?

Global roamer
The first type of satellite user will be the global roamer. The global roamer consists mainly of business travelers who want to have the ability to make and receive calls anywhere in the world. Iridium has conducted extensive analysis of this market and concluded that this market will consist of 42 million people by the year 2002.

Cellular extension
The second type of user will be individuals who wish to extend their cellular coverage to areas where no service currently exists. Both Globalstar and Iridium plan to offer dual mode phones which will work with GSM/TDMA/CDMA cellular systems and satellite communications systems. An example of a dual mode user would be would be an individual who lives in Chicago and travels to upstate Montana for a hunting trip. The
person would normally have cellular service from Ameritech but that coverage does not include upstate Montana where no cellular coverage exists. To be able to receive service on their Ameritech system (same phone number) in Montana, the individual would sign up with Iridium for dual mode service. Signing up would mean that once the
individual got out of the range of their Ameritech systems, they could hit a switch on their Iridium phone and make or receive calls outside of their Ameritech coverage zone routed through the Iridium satellite system. This would allow for ubiquitous service for cellular users even when they are out of range of their current cellular system.




Landline extension
The third type of satellite user will an individual who wants landline extension. In this instance a satellite company would install a fixed telephone booth in a rural area (e.g. in the outskirts of India). This would enable a rural town, which currently has no means of voice communications, to communicate with an urban area where medical, police or other services exist. The rural town could also use the phone to call suppliers of staple products. Fixed satellite service would mostly be used when a landline system is uneconomical or technologically incapableor serving a particular location. Vodaphone has been using fixed wireless phone booths in South Africa and has averaged 800 minutes of use per booth.