ICO Global, the global mobile personal communications system (GMPCS), is aiming at 40 per cent share in India's satellite telephony market.
This target -- estimated at some 40,000-60,000 consumers in 2000-01 and up to some 150,000 by 2005 -- will pit ICO strongly against competitors like Iridium.
The competition is likely to be more intense given the fact that ICO's tariffs are set to be some 40 per cent lower than the tariffs of Iridium.
ICO and Iridium will be among the first GMPCS operators to offer services in the country. The Iridium system is set to go on-line on November 1, while ICO has set a target date of early 2000.
GMPCS operators have set themselves a target of three to five per cent of the number of cellular phones in a given area.
In India, said Bishnu Pradhan, ICO's senior vice president and general manager, India, this target is likely to be higher given the poor telephone density.
Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL), India's international telecom services carrier, holds seven per cent of ICO equity which currently amounts to $150 million.
The Indian company has a position on the ICO board of directors. Other large investors in ICO include Deutsche Telekom and Hughes Electronic Corporation.
ICO has raised $2.1 billion in equity commitments, has been constructing its system for some two years and is expected to provide service starting in the year 2000.
The company has 57 investors, comprising telecom and technology companies, from 44 countries worldwide.
ICO's services are expected to be used by international and domestic cellular users who roam outside areas covered by compatible cellular networks from business, industry and government organisations, mining, transportation, aeronautical, maritime, media and other specialist sectors as well as residents of rural and remote areas lacking adequate local communications.
The first ICO satellite is expected to be launched in the fourth quarter of 1998 and the initial constellation of six satellites are to be in orbit by end-1999. ICO brass expects to have the full 12-satellite constellation in orbit by the turn of the century.
The ICO system is built around 12 ground-based satellite access nodes or hubs all over the world, the first of which is being built by VSNL near Delhi in India.
Hughes Space & Communications International has two contracts totalling over $2.2 billion from ICO -- a $1.36 billion contract to build and supply 12 satellites and associated telemetry, tracking and control equipment and a $925 million deal to supply launch and management services.
