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In this story:

• Phones where there were none before
• Politics and costs
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(CNN) -- Rivals Iridium and Globalstar are fiercely competing to establish a satellite-based global communications network which would bring phone and pager services to customers around the world.

The front-runner appears to be multinational Iridium, which has successfully blasted 72 working telecommunications satellites into orbit.

"Iridium is going to cover -- and today actually does cover -- every square inch of the Earth, from pole to pole," said company spokesman Craig Bond. ( 374 K AIFF or WAV sound)

Euro-American consortium Globalstar suffered a major setback in creating its own 48-satellite network when 12 satellites were lost after a rocket computer malfunctioned in Kazakhstan early in September.

Now, Globalstar is trying to make up for lost ground by producing one satellite a week, with the goal of getting its constellation in place by the end of next year.

Phones where there were none before

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The new generation of satellite phones are more portable than previous versions. They look like early cellular phones and most function like cellular models.

But with new swing-out antennas attached, customers will be able to call via satellite up to 1,000 miles above Earth.

With the Iridium and Globalstar communication networks, the phone signal is beamed from a satellite back to Earth to a so-called gateway station.

From the gateway, the signal is routed through conventionally wired or wireless phone networks to the customer.

"I was talking to a guy who will provide the Globalstar service in Kenya very shortly," said company spokesman Max Mastrangelo. He said some Kenyans in remote areas will be able to make phone calls for the first time, with the new technology.

Politics and costs

Iridium's new satellite phone looks much like a traditional cellular phone

While the technology for global communication has been mastered, politics remains a problem in many places around the world.

Dozens of countries still have not yet agreed to let Iridium and others transmit calls across their territorial boundaries.

"What we have been doing is going in and saying: 'Listen, we will abide by all the laws of your land. You regulate us, you tax us, you do whatever you need to do as a sovereign nation,'" Bond told CNN. "'The only thing we're doing is we're giving you a complete digital wireless communications network for your country.'"

Costs are a key factor in the competition.

The Iridium phone will cost around $3,000 when it hits the markets in November. Satellite talk time is expected to cost up to $3 per minute.

"Iridium is expecting to offer the Cadillac of telecommunications services," said Bond. "We may be slightly more expensive but we believe our services are going to be more superior," said Bond.

Globalstar, on the other hand, says its phone will cost $750, with talk time going for as little as 65 cents a minute.

"This will give to the common people...the possibility to be reachable and to be connected to the world everywhere," Mastrangelo said.

Correspondent Rick Lockridge contributed to this report.