J. Clarke wrote:

Cell phones are what _killed_ it. Nobody's going to pay a buck-thirty
a minute for satphone airtime when for a hundred bucks a month they
can get unlimited cell phone airtime. The only people willing to do
that are those who have to communicate from somewhere where there is
no cell service.


Iridium is still alive and providing communication services to your
gummint. The company that stepped in and bought the infrastructure for
pennies on the dollar (actually, less than 1/2 cent on the dollar, if
you believe Wikipedia) after the bankruptcy was able to make a profit
when they didn't have the debt service for putting 66 satellites in
low earth orbit (72 if you count the on-orbit spares).

Jerry (an ex-Motorolan who thankfully didn't work on Iridium)