A loss of US$505 million in the first three months of the year.

Six months after launching the world_s first global satellite phone network, Iridium LLC is falling deeper into the red as it fails to come even close to meeting sales targets. Iridium reported that it had a loss of US$505 million in the first three months of the year. In the same period, revenue was a scant $1.45 million. More ominous, Iridium is down to just $195.4 million in cash and cash equivalents -- meaning that it might have trouble paying the bills in coming quarters unless it can quickly raise more cash. Last week, Iridium_s CEO Edward Staiano quit because of a "disagreement" with the board of directors over strategy, the company said. Iridium_s interim CEO John A. Richardson said that the company plans to ramp up sales efforts in places where Iridium has already found customers and to change its prices and service plans. By the end of March, Iridium had only 7,188 satellite phone customers -- less than a third of what it had forecast. Another 2,078 customers signed up for the company_s satellite paging service and 1,031 for cell-phone service. Iridium said sales may perk up now that a key manufacturer, Kyocera, is able to supply satellite handsets. Kyocera and Motorola are the main manufacturers of Iridium phones, and that production delays by Kyocera earlier this year hurt Iridium_s commercial rollout. Leo Mondele, Iridium_s vice president of business development, hinted that the company may cut phone prices, saying that "in wireless, the evolution on the product side is always downward in price."