SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.-Motorola Worldwide Information Network Services, an Iridium service provider to government customers, said it expanded its contact options for customers using the Iridium global communications system via Iridium gateways in the United States.M-WINS customers can use the new interactive voice response message center...
GENEVA-Globalstar officially announced at Telecom '99 a phased launch of its mobile satellite service. The phased launch begins with user trials, followed by a soft launch that will allow the company to work out quality issues. Commercial service should begin in early 2000, Globalstar...
Low-earth-orbit satellite voice provider Globalstar L.P. has reduced the number of handsets expected to be available at the end of the year from 70,000, as announced in September, to between 35,000 and 50,000.Globalstar spokesman Mac Jeffery said the lower figures do not represent manufacturing...
NEW YORK-Despite its investments in the troubled Iridium L.L.C. satellite carrier, Motorola Inc., Schaumburg, Ill., reported strong third-quarter results Oct. 12 that reflected growth in its wireless handset business.Including one-time charges, the company earned $91 million, or 14 cents per share, up from $27...
GENEVA-Globalstar officially announced at Telecom '99 a phased launch of its mobile satellite service. The phased launch begins with user trials, followed by a soft launch that will allow the company to work out quality issues. Commercial service should begin in early 2000.User trials...
WASHINGTON-With only eight months before the World Radiocommunication Conference in Turkey, U.S. spectrum policy for third-generation wireless systems is on the verge of meltdown as the Clinton administration and industry continue to clash without a resolution in sight."The interests of the U.S government and...
While the bankruptcies of Iridium L.L.C. and ICO Global Communications have cast doubt on the mobile satellite services market, fixed satellite services provider Teledesic L.L.C. believes it may find a way to benefit from these difficulties.Teledesic is wireless visionary Craig McCaw's idea for an...
WASHINGTON-Amid rumors of congressional fatigue with the thought of reforming the Federal Communications Commission, the agency's chairman last week said reform efforts are going forward."This effort is real. It is happening. Many of the things in this plan are already happening ... It will...
TrunkingThe radio trunking handset base registered growth of 200 percent from 1 April 1998 to 31 March 1999, reaching 12,000 in the 25 cities where public mobile radio trunked service (PMRTS) is operational. This number is up from a mere 4,000 subscribers in the...
Talk about mega-mergers! Vodafone AirTouch secluded in talks with Bell Atlantic. BT and AT&T pushing back the boundaries of their courtship. All quoting figures of thousands of dollars per subscriber leading to potential deals of tens of billions of dollars.Such high-level financial deals create...
DUBLIN, Ireland-There has been much debate over the future of satellite-based communications. Indeed, regular readers of the financial press might wonder if it has any future in the new millennium as they follow stories of operational difficulties, disappointing subscriber figures and financial restructuring and...
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa-Iridium L.L.C.'s recent financial restructuring and voluntary bankruptcy filing are not expected to have a financial impact on Iridium Africa, said Iridium Africa's chief operating officer, Thomas Alabakis. Iridium Africa is an independent company wholly owned by the Mawarid Group and is...
Besieged by doubts over the very existence of a market for satellite-based voice services, low-earth-orbit carriers are starving for some kind of positive development to feed investors and customers alike.The bankruptcies of LEO carriers Iridium L.L.C. and ICO Global Communications L.P. have reduced confidence...
The second mobile satellite company in less than a month filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in a U.S. court at the end of August. ICO Global Communications Holdings and three affiliates filed for protection from creditors. This followed Iridium's bankruptcy filing earlier in the...
The mobile satellite industry is now under extreme pressure to justify itself. With Iridium's and ICO's bankruptcy filings last month, Globalstar is suddenly on the hot seat as industry defender-whether it wants to be or not.Will Globalstar launch initial service on schedule in September...
Everywhere you look it seems wireless companies are declaring bankruptcy. Iridium, NextWave and Metro PCS all are trying to beat their way through the complex jungle of Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization to make a go of it in tomorrow's telecom field. Narrow-band PCS player...
According to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission report filed last week, the recently bankrupt Iridium L.L.C. said it proposed offering bondholders and other creditors an equity stake in the company in lieu of cash.Iridium filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Aug. 13, after...
Financial analysts continued their wait-and-see attitude toward Paging Network Inc. as the company released second-quarter earnings.In contrast, Arch Communications Group Inc. completed its merger with MobileMedia Corp. in the second quarter, resulting in one of the lowest debt ratios in the industry and the...
After defaulting on both its $800 million senior secured credit facility and its $750 million guaranteed credit facility last week, Iridium L.L.C. filed for voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.Iridium said the move has the support of banks, bondholders and its strategic partners, and was...
One of Iridium L.L.C.'s main lenders, Chase Manhattan Bank, has asked Iridium to demand that Motorola Inc. provide a guarantee of $300 million under Iridium's $800 million secured credit facility.Iridium made the revelation in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing, detailing the progress...
MONTREAL-BCE Mobile Communications Inc., whose subsidiaries operate under the Bell Mobility name, reported a net loss of $49.9 million for the second quarter ended June 30.The company attributed the loss to its investment in Iridium L.L.C., through a stake in Iridium Canada, and to...
FORT WORTH, Texas-Lockheed Martin Tactical Aircraft Systems and AlliedSignal said they entered into a cooperative agreement to test the effectiveness of using a two-way communications system-based on Iridium L.L.C.'s satellite network-on F-16 fighter planes.In the first trial of its kind for both Iridium and...
During its second-quarter earnings conference call, Motorola executives said Iridium L.L.C. could face liquidation if it fails to bring in the revenues and subscribers originally planned.At the same time, Motorola asserted it will not contribute further funding to Iridium unless other investors do."Motorola will...
NEW YORK-Happy days are here again for Motorola Inc., Schaumburg, Ill., which announced second-quarter earnings late July 13 of $273 million, or 44 cents per share.The gains are three cents per share ahead of analysts' consensus estimates of 41 cents and a quantum leap...
