In a way you are right if you are trying to measure sat equipment and sat time. I tried counting ground stations at $6M each. I figured four in 2003 to 2011 timeframe. That is $24M leaving $3M. Divide $3M by 8 and you get about $350K per year--still high. I add an additional factor for Iraq.
I talked on Wednesday with a retired Marine Colonel now in emergency management who did some important stuff in Iraq while still on active duty. I brought up Globalstar's free fed disaster airtime since I knew his agency had a few satphones. He liked it and volunteered that his sat time budget while he was in Iraq for his mission was $1.6M per year. We do know 1/4th of Gstar's revenues are federal, don't we? To me all that Iraq money, including any GTC had, is gone. Easy money gone leaving hard money left IMO.
The commercial and other government uses are increasing but we need to be out there in an aggressive capture mode IMO. The present state of my analysis is (and I welcome all thoughtful input on this):
1. Historically and prospectively, GTC's quickest and largest revenue contribution is through ground stations--we supposedly have an agreement with Gstar that we are a welcome bidder on five more
2. Prospectively our free simplex accounts (ESN's) from our appliques are 100% profit IF we package and sell them
3. Commercial and consumer sat use is a growing market and we are well-positioned to capture some of this but we are undercapitalized/under-resourced
MV, this has been my best analysis thus far. GTC was privately held and doing FedGov/USMil work before acquisition. Historical data in the public real will be hard to find. But, sincerely, I want a real picture--not one biased for or against. At the moment my bottom line is a great asset that is underperforming its potential. But, please tell me what you think about the ground station impact on GTC revenues. The ground station talk is all through the 10-Q's and 10-K. You seem like a realist--I am always a sucker for that. Best regards, IJO I might have to go to work today so take your time.
