Yet another top executive has decided to sow his wireless oats.
David Twyver has left his post as president of Northern Telecom Ltd.’s Wireless Networks division to head a satellite communications company backed by Seattle billionaires Bill Gates and Craig McCaw. Twyver will be the chief executive officer at Teledesic Corp.
“My future was secure [at Nortel], and I was enjoying what I was doing. It took a lot of arm twisting,” said Twyver. “But it is an exciting, challenging opportunity; the idea of building something that has never been built before is an attraction.”
Kirkland, Wash.-based Teledesic plans to deploy a $9 billion communications network that will use several hundred low-earth-orbit satellites. The company is seeking to provide access to advanced communication services, primarily Internet access, globally through reselling agreements.
“No one has really proposed a satellite system like this,” said Twyver. By 2002, plans call for the network to seamlessly extend the existing terrestrial, fiber-based infrastructure to provide services offered at rates comparable to existing terrestrial services.
Twyver said the company already has been successful in allocating radio spectrum for the network. Last year the World Radiocommunication conference made 18 GHz available for non-geostationary satellite downlinks and 28 GHz for uplinks.
Matthew Desch, general manager of Wireless Networks, will replace Twyver.
Prior to Twyver’s appointment, McCaw served as CEO and chairman of Teledesic. He will remain chairman.
