At 12:18 PM 06/03/98 -0700, you wrote:
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Barry Lee Brisco <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>> That doesn't mean that, sitting in the USA, I will be able to call a tiny
>rural village in Vietnam for a few pennies a minute. They still won't have
>many phones. But it does mean that I will be able to call a hotel in Hanoi
>for practically nothing.
>
(Andreas Ramos added:)
>Yes, so I can call a village in Vietnam. Who do I ask for?
>
>Humor aside: yes, it will soon be possible to call a Vietnamese village.
>Craig McCaw, the cellular phone billionaire, and a guy in Seattle named Bill
>something-the-other have pooled together a few billions and are putting up a
>satellite system for cell phones and internet communications. 50% of the
>world's population (name one!) has not yet placed a phone call. They will
>build solar-powered satellite phone boxes, at about $1000 each. These will
>be placed in the millions of Chinese, Vietnamese, etc. villages, which at
>present have no phone lines at all. It's projected to cost about $3/min.
Hi Andreas,
Yes, I am familar with that plan. Of course, $US3/min is more than the
monthly income of many Vietnamese villagers. So they're not going to be
making a whole lot of calls.
What will first occur in countries like Vietnam is that the major cities
will get set up with the latest telecom technology and in a decade or so
you will be able to make cheap calls from there. But not from the villages.
The economics just don't work.
actually, Vietnam was probably a poor example. The govt. has proven so
inept and paranoid about foreign investment that the country is almost
going backwards right now. The beauracracy is staggering.
A better example might be Mongolia or The Philippines.
--
Barry Lee Brisco <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Web Design & Development�- Online Marketing <http://www.ToTheWeb.com>
Connecting Businesswomen in Asia <http://www.women-connect-asia.com>
The Pan-Asian Online Underwater Magazine <http://www.asiandiver.com>
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