To all: important news release:
BEIJING, Jan 26 (Reuters) - Beijing has approved a plan by
U.S. electronics giant Motorola to set up a ground
station in China for its Iridium satellite telecommunications
system, the official Xinhua news agency said on Monday.
Motorola would provide $30 million worth of equipment for
the station, one of six to be set up worldwide, it said, quoting
an unnamed official from Motorola Electronics (China) Ltd.
A satellite telecommunications company under China's
Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications would build the
facility and recruit staff for the station, which would cost
about $50 million in total, it said without elaborating.
The China Great Wall Industry Corp successfully launched two
Motorola-owned Iridium satellites last December and had been
contracted to launch 20 more, according to local media.
The satellites were part of Iridium's satellite wireless
personal telecommunications network designed to offer full
global coverage and a variety of communications services,
including voice, data, fax and paging.
Motorola planned to use rocket carriers in the United
States, Russia and China to launch 66 of its Iridium satellites,
with each country launching 22, the media have said.
The company aimed to launch all 66 satellites by April, to
connect the six ground stations in May, and to open the network
to the public in September, 1998, Xinhua quoted the Motorola
official as saying.
-- Beijing Newsroom (86) 10-6532-1921; Fax (86) 10-6532-4978
-- Email: beijing.newsroomreuters.com |
