Globaltouch West Africa Limited A Case For Reinvestment Toward Profitability
Globaltouch West Africa Limited A Case For Reinvestment Toward Profitability
2013 was meant to be a year of milestones at Globaltouch operationally, financially and strategically. Tremendous progress should have been made in advancing the company s three fundamental drivers of value creation! low"cost second"generation constellation# upcoming innovative products# and our valuable spectrum assets. $y leveraging last year s cost reduction initiatives, Globaltouch should be turning the corner to profitability.
BUSINESS OVERVIEW
Globaltouch is partnering with Globalstar, 1nc. who is a leading provider of -obile .atellite .ervices 89-..:; including voice and data communications services globally via satellite. This capability provides Globaltouch with resources to provide wireless services in areas not served or underserved by terrestrial wireless and wireline networ)s. 7e see) to meet our customers< increasing desire for connectivity. 7e offer voice and data communication services over Globalstar<s networ) of in"orbit satellites and our active ground station. 7ith the current new generation constellation Globalstar defines successful level of service for customers as measured by their ability to ma)e uninterrupted calls of average duration for a system"wide average number of minutes per month. The goal is to provide service levels and call success rates e2ual to or better than other -.. competitors so that our products and services are attractive to potential customers. Globalstar define voice 2uality as the ability to easily hear, recogni+e and understand callers with imperceptible delay in the transmission. =ue to the uni2ue design of the Globalstar .ystem, we outperform on this measure versus geostationary satellite 89G0%:; competitors due to the difference in signal travel distance, appro3imately >>,000 additional miles for G0% satellites, which introduces considerable delay and signal degradation to G0% calls. &or our competitors using cross"lin)ed satellite architectures, which re2uire multiple inter"satellite connections to complete a call, signal
Globaltouch West Africa Limited: A Case for Reinvestment toward profitability Commercial Simple O!e-Wa" Tra!#mi##io! Pro$%c&#
.imple3 service is a one"way burst data transmission from a commercial .imple3 device over the Globalstar .ystem that can be used to trac) and monitor assets. %ur subscribers presently use our .imple3 devices to trac) cars, trailers, tan)ers# to monitor utility meters# as well as a host of other applications. ,t the heart of the .imple3 service is a demodulator and 4& interface, called an appli2uC, which is located at a gateway and an application server located in our facilities. The server receives and collates messages from all .imple3 telemetry devices transmitting over our satellite networ). .imple3 devices consist of a telemetry unit, an application specific sensor, a battery and optional global positioning functionality. The small si+e of the devices ma)es them attractive for use in trac)ing asset shipments, monitoring unattended remote assets, trailer trac)ing and mobile security. (urrent users include various governmental agencies, including the ?(,,8 ?igerian (ivil ,viation ,uthority;, the ?igerian =efense Dead2uarters, 5ower Dolding (ompany of ?igeria, as well as other organi+ations, including *45(E??5(. 7e designed our .imple3 service to address the mar)et for a small and cost"effective solution for sending data, such as geographic coordinates, from assets or individuals in remote locations to a central monitoring station. (ustomers are able to reali+e an efficiency advantage from trac)ing assets even in places with no terrestrial networ) coverage. %ur .imple3 units, including the enterprise products --T and .-,4T%?0, are used worldwide by industrial, commercial and government customers. These products provide cost"effective, low power, ultra"reliable, secure monitoring that help solve a variety of security applications and asset trac)ing challenges.
UPGRADE COST
&6// 65G4,=0 4adio ,ccess ?etwor) 4,? 8 1nstallation. 1ntegration and Testing; " +,-...-... (ore ?etwor) (? " .G.?, GG.?, .E1E5 (.(&, =?., -G7, -G(, .G, D/4ED.., ,ll ,pps .erver 81nstallation and Testing, ; + /-,..-... Dughes 4,? 5ayment 5lan! 20K at order 20K at site surveys completion 20K at ship to gateway 20K at installationEtesting completedEaccepted 20K at over"the"air testing completedEaccepted %ther (osts! 1nterconnection (ost " +0,.-... ,nnual 4,? 7arranty " +11-234 Learly (? support +055-... 1?T04-0=1,T0 65G4,=0 $ut the current e2uipment and setup of the gateway can still render high grade services with the new constellation. ,ll that is re2uired is a selective and customi+ed upgrade. 1nterconnection (ost" +0,.-... ,nnual 1nterconnection .ubscription" +2..-... .oft .witch 1nstallation" +,..-...
I!$%#&r"
7e compete in the mobile satellite services, -.., sector of the global communications industry. That sector is not fully developed in ,frica, especially ?igeria. -obile satellite service operators provide voice and data services using a networ) of one or more satellites and associated ground facilities. -obile satellite services are usually complementary to, and interconnected with, other forms of terrestrial communications services and infrastructure and are intended to respond to users< desires for connectivity at all times and locations. (ustomers typically use satellite voice and data communications in situations where e3isting terrestrial wireline and wireless communications networ)s are impaired or do not e3ist. 7orldwide, government organi+ations, military, natural disaster aid associations, event"driven response agencies and corporate security teams depend on mobile and fi3ed voice and data communications services on a regular basis. $usinesses with global operating scope re2uire communications services when operating in remote locations around the world. -obile satellite services users span the forestry, maritime, government, oil and gas, mining, leisure, emergency services, construction and transportation sectors, among others. 7e believe many such customers increasingly view satellite communications services as critical to their daily
Compe&i&io!
Generally, the global communications industry is highly competitive. Globatouch currently faces substantial competition from other service providers that offer a range of mobile and fi3ed communications options. %ur most direct competition comes from terrestrial communication service providers li)e -T?, 0tisalat, G/% etc. 7e compete indirectly with these terrestrial wireline 89landline:; and wireless communications networ)s. 7e provide service in areas that are inade2uately covered by these networ)s. To the e3tent that terrestrial communications companies invest in underdeveloped areas, we will face increased competition in those areas. %n a global scale, our partner, Globalstar<s two largest global competitors are 1nmarsat and 1ridium. They compete primarily on the basis of coverage, 2uality, portability and pricing of services and products. 1nmarsat owns and operates a fleet of geostationary satellites. =ue to its multiple"satellite geostationary system, 1nmarsat<s coverage area e3tends to and covers most
BUSINESS SUCCESS
The success of our business plan will depend on a number of factors, including! B our ability to maintain the health, capacity and control of our gateway and also the health, performance and stability of the satellite constellation. B our ability to maintain or reduce costs # B the level of mar)et acceptance and demand for all of our services# B our ability to introduce new products and services that meet this mar)et demand# B our ability to retain and obtain new customers# B our ability to obtain additional business using our e3isting spectrum resources both in ?igeria and other 7est ,frican countries# B our ability to mar)et successfully our .5%T and .imple3 products and services# B our ability to develop and deploy innovative networ) management techni2ues to permit mobile devices to transition between satellite and terrestrial modes# B our ability to sell the e2uipment inventory on hand# B the effectiveness of our competitors in developing and offering similar products and services and in persuading our customers to switch service providers.