Doug Ashbury
Northern News Services

NNSL (Nov 09/98) - Technology like the Iridium wireless telecommunications system does not come along every day. In fact, it's never come along before.

Iridium uses 66 LEOs -- low earth orbiting satellites zooming by 780 kilometres above the Earth -- to give subscribers global reach.

Iqaluit-based Thomas Associates Ltd., one of two Iridium dealers in the NWT -- the other is Yellowknife-based Danmax Communications Ltd. -- said people in the North can subscribe but the phone units have yet to arrive.

Last Thursday, he said he expects Iridium hardware to arrive soon.

"This is a very unique system, there is not another one like it in the world," he said.

Iridium is a cellular phone with pager system, caller identification and voice-mail. Subscribers can use the technology from anywhere in the world.

They can take this phone anywhere in the world and, through the same number, anybody can reach them. The calling party pays. When callers are within a local cellular system, they can access that system and its rates.

Initially in the North, government and resource companies are likely to be the main subscribers.

But the Iridium system doesn't come cheap.

Expect to pay about $5,000 for the wireless communications unit plus a monthly fee of $79 and a $59- startup fee.

Air time is $2.50 a minute for calls within North America. Calls from Canada to Russia will run $8.18 a minute. Canada to Greenland -- you'll pay $6.57 a minute. Among the highest calls will be between South America and China -- a whopping $14 a minute.

If these prices seem high, at least Northerners won't be at a price disadvantage compared to everyone else in Canada -- satellites don't know the Arctic is remote.

Asked if prices could be expected to fall, Thomas said, "It's a global market, so the Chinese market can effect the pricing of the whole system."

Thomas is the major shareholder in Thomas Associates, which started out about 15 years ago as a Spilsbury Communications dealer.

Spilsburys, those orange-coloured short-wave radios, cost about $2,000 plus batteries.

Thomas Associates also became a dealer for Motorola and a Xerox sales agent.

Iridium Canada is the Canadian partner of the Iridium global wireless communications system. It was founded in 1993 by BCE Mobility Communications Inc., Bell Canada International Inc. and Motorola Canada Inc. This partnership is an investor in Iridium LLC, an international consortium of telecommunications' companies.

To fund the building of the Iridium system, $7.2 billion was raised. The Iridium system was conceived in 1987 by engineers in Motorola's satellite communications division.