The Element of Surprise
In the evolution of GTE, the element of surprise has bode well for the company. The October surprise of a Stratellite (turned out to be 2) being built in secrecy for the military/government was a shock (I wonder who paid for them). One must ask himself why the government would classify something they are not using or going to use. Then came the December surprise of the “Russian Deal”, that was pure amazement. One has to ask “how will all of this play out?” Only time will tell how these surprises turns out. Does the company have any more surprises? Makes one wonder...
GTE management have shared much with us, however based on their promising forecast, they probably have some more surprises coming. COB Dumas statement “This rigid airship (not a blimp, not a balloon as the pundits remind us), when it becomes operational later this year, will produce what we believe will be the single greatest revolution in communications technology in the history of the world.” IMHO the Stratellite is a mere platform and not much different than a cell tower or a satellite. However, what makes it revolutionary versus a cell tower is that one Stratellite can replace many cell towers and versus a satellite is that it is recoverable. One other revolutionary item about the Stratellite is not the Stratellite itself but what communications gear is to be used. This is something we will probably never find out about other than it is proprietary in nature.
There are a lot of unanswered questions about GTE and I believe based on the confidence management have in executing the business plan, the answers will unfold through “elements of surprises”. As Gomer Pyle used to tell Sgt Carter “surprise surprise surprise”.
