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Technology Stocks : IRID - Iridium World Communications IPO Announced! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: duncan moyer who wrote (400)	2/14/1998 12:46:00 AM
From: RAW	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 2693

Iridium network progressing despite launch delay By Susan Nadeau SCHAUMBURG, Ill., Feb 12 (Reuters) - Despite recent satellite launch delays, Motorola Inc. said Thursday the Iridium LLC global communications satellite system will be ready for commercial service, as planned, in September. "We'll figure out a way still to make our dates," Jack Scanlon, president of Motorola's Cellular Networks and Space Sector, said in an interview. Motorola is the principal contractor for Iridium LLC, a consortium launching a network of 66 low-Earth-orbit satellites that will allow users to make wireless phone calls fromanywhere on Earth. A launch planned for last week was again postponed on Thursday due to weather problems. The countdown progressed to within a minute of launch, but unfavorable upper winds forced the delay. Another attempt will be made on Friday morning. The $5 billion Iridium venture currently has 46 satellites orbiting 878 miles above the Earth, and five more are on the McDonnell Douglas Delta II rocket launch which was just postponed. McDonnell Douglas is a unit of Boeing Co. In fact, the first call has been made over the system, beaming Scanlon's voice from a Motorola site in Arizona to Motorola's sector headquarters in Schaumburg. "It was a mind-blowing experience," said Scanlon, who was the first to make a call. He called his secretary. Iridium is one of three global satellite systems Motorola is involved in. Motorola came up with the idea for Iridium more than a decade ago, gathered financial support from various other entities and now is the main contractor and holds about a 20 percent equity stake in the venture. Iridium World Communications Ltd. is the publicly traded portion ofthe investment. "I think this is a service you'll see ramp up very, very fast," Scanlon said, adding high-level international executives will be targeted for the service, which will be connected to other current wireless phone services. "It's such a uniqueservice." Motorola is also planning Celestri, a system of both low-Earth-orbit and geosynchronous satellites in fixed positions more than 22,000 miles above the Earth's surface. Another system, the M-Star, has been folded into Celestri, estimated to cost at least $12 billion, Scanlon said. Commercial service for Celestri is now scheduled to begin in 2003, Scanlon said, and satellite launches will start latein 2001. Whereas Iridium is mainly for voice phone calls for people on the go, Celestri will be for stationary use and will handle vast amounts of data or video. Scanlon said Motorola is looking for additional partners and funding for the Celestri system, as it did with Iridium. In addition, Scanlon said Motorola will be part of a next-generation system being planned by Iridium LLC. It will likely combine the mobility of Iridium with the large data capabilities of Celestri. "The next real frontier for communications is in space,"Scanlon said.