look like a dual sim phone

Hi,
you guys seem familiar with the Globalstar system.
On globalstar.com I found a press release saying that Globalstar is about to open an African gateway:
http://www.globalstar.com/en/news/pressreleases/press_display.php?pressId=412
Is this true? Would be great! However, I cannot find any further information on that. Will the whole continent be covered? http:/www.globalstar.co.za seems to be recently updated (according to the visit-counter on the bottom of the page:-)). Anyway, there is not much content yet.
What is this EV-DO thing? I cannot find any further source than the press-release. Is the Globalstar network capable of this feature at all?
What does the "Encryption"-icon on the GSP-1600/1700-display stand for? Are Globalstar->Globalstar calls encrypted(at least when using the Qualcomm handsets?). Which algorithm is used? (AES?).

No, its NOT the best satellite service. One cannot say this. Regarding coverage, Iridium ist the best service appliciable. Thats for sure. Taking coverage not into account, the LEO-service cannot compete with services like Thuraya, AcES or Inmarsat. I'm familiar with both technologies, and I'll tell you: it IS annoying when the particular LEO-Satellite on which you are linked up to decides to fly behind a building or or tree or something, so either you have to follow it or your connection dropped. At least this was my experience with Iridium. Not to mention the poor speech quality of this particular service.
I'm now with Thuraya, and I REALLY prefer it. First of all, I can use it with my cellular contract, but still I do not have to pay heavily overpriced airteam. E.g. Globalstar-service with cellular-simcard costs around 4.50�/minute, while when roaming on Thuraya I pay less then 1.50�/minute. Second, the connection is much more stable then I ever experienced with Iridium. Provided there is a connection. Of course the rather low angle of clear view to the sky needed to hook up to the Thuraya-satellite especially from northern-Europe is a limitation, even more when travelling in a mountained region. However, IF you have the connection (which is really not too hard to set up), its stable. And, last but not least, look at the handsets, please. The "New" Globalstar handsets looks like the GSP-1600, except that the Display and the battery were replaced, and the cellular unit was dropped, therefore resulting in a slightly thinner and lighter phone. But, especially regarding the features, one cannot call it "modern". Tss.
Cheers,
Chris

This phone sucks, for it does not support GSM-Sims any more - how would one roam on Globalstar while there is no way to register your GSM-Sim?
Sucks even more, as it does not support SMS-MO, meaning one can not send Text FROM the phone. Just receive. And do not even dare to think about add-on features like MMS or WAP...
And, sucks most of all, they droped the cellular part of the phone. Therefore you'll never receive any call while indoors. Nope...
Best choice is Thuraya. Apart from heading for global coverage, they even now cover most of Africa and Asia (where satellite-coverage is REALLY useful).
Apart from the SO-2510 (which is REALLY the smallest and lightest satellite phone!) you can get the SO-2520, which still weights less than the GSP-1700, runs windows mobile and supports multimedia-feature. Not to mention the build-in camera, and quadband-GSM. Who the hell goes for Globalstar???