Kohl said today he had made an error but strongly denied charges he ever took money for himself. Only recently, satellite telephones were criticized for being expensive, annoyingly awkward to use and unreliable. But as New Year s looms, satellite telephone manufacturers and dealers are reporting a boom in sales. Many companies are buying the phones that connect calls via a network of satellites in low earth orbit as a precaution against the Y2K computer bug. Chris Richard reports.
Satellite phones connect directly with a relay station orbiting overhead.
So, callers can avoid tangled telephone lines on the ground. Satellite would give us greater range. I think we get a more resilient form of communications from the satellite phone. Satellite phone dealers and vendors report other corporate customers are taking similar precautions. Even Iridium World Communications, which filed for bankruptcy protection in August, says sales are up.