Teledesic, Motorola end supply agreement

Bellevue, WA-based Teledesic LLC and Schaumburg, IL-based Motorola Inc. have decided to end their Teledesic system agreement in the wake of the satellite company's plans to merge with ICO-Teledesic Global Ltd. The mutual decision to end the system agreement that called for Motorola to serve as prime contractor of the system gives Teledesic the flexibility to pursue alternative approaches for building its global, broadband satellite communications network.

The McCaw organizations and Motorola will maintain a close relationship, and Motorola remains an investor in Teledesic. Telecommunications pioneer Craig McCaw and Microsoft founder Bill Gates are Teledesic's two primary founding investors. Strategic investors also include Motorola, Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, The Boeing Company, and The Abu Dhabi Investment Co.

Teledesic is a licensed satellite communications network that plans to enable affordable, worldwide access to advanced telecommunications services such as computer networking, broadband Internet access and interactive multimedia. It plans to deliver broadband data and value-added services over a global network optimized for the Internet Protocol.

Edited by Ellen Jensen
Managing Editor, Wireless Networks Online