BROWSING: Iridium

WASHINGTON-Sen. Ernest Hollings (R-S.C.), in what amounts to a showdown with the Clinton administration, is mounting a campaign to condition Senate confirmation of U.S. Trade Representative-designate Charlene Barshefsky on passage of an amendment requiring legislation to implement the new global telecom pact and future...

Several low-earth-orbit satellite systems will have initial launches this year, marking the beginning of services that a Washington, D.C., consulting firm says "will fill the gaps other wireless systems don't cover."Big LEOs and medium earth orbit systems will not only be viable but will...

WASHINGTON-Motorola Satellite Communications Inc. filed an application with the Federal Communications Commission to modify its license for the Iridium mobile satellite system to include authority to provide aeronautical mobile satellite services.AMS services are route services for voice and data that support flight safety communications...

WASHINGTON-Little LEO Iridium Inc. remained hopeful last week that a rescheduled Jan. 19 launch of three satellites from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base-the company's fourth attempt at liftoff-would prove successful.The launch of the trio will signal the beginning of a 66-unit global constellation that...

MONTREAL-Low-earth-orbit mobile satellite operators Globalstar L.P., Iridium L.L.C. and Odyssey Telecommunications International Inc. said they will cooperate in efforts to secure global authorization for radio frequency spectrum to be used by their services.The companies said they agreed to a frequency-use plan, premised on the...

WASHINGTON-Although oral arguments regarding the stay of the Federal Communications Commission's interconnection pricing plan are not scheduled until sometime in January, sparring on the issue continues between those who are benefiting from the stay and those who think they will be hindered."The telecom act...

WASHINGTON-Having spent the better part of the 104th Congress reforming domestic telecommunications policy, lawmakers gave notice last week of their intention to make international satellite competition the top priority when they return next year.Already, the Clinton administration is under attack by some lawmakers who...

The European Commission has invited comment on the Iridium satellite system and its impact on European mobile communications, although the EC has said it "intends to take a favorable view" of the Motorola Inc. project.The European Union is considering the future role of satellite...

WASHINGTON-Sixty-two banks participated in the syndication of a $750 million interim credit facility for Iridium L.L.C. To date, committed funds raised by Iridium total $2.65 billion, said the company.Chase Securities Inc. and the investment unit of Barclays Bank plc arranged the $750 million loan...

MUNICH-Siemens AG won contracts worth $64.7 million from the Iridium mobile phone network. Siemens said that Motorola Inc., which founded and leads the Iridium project, placed an order for 12 switching systems with Siemens' public communications networks division.The Iridium system plans to use 66...

GENEVA-The United States blocked a telecom agreement among 53 nations of the World Trade Organization by refusing to open its international and satellite markets unless better offers were made by other nations."We will not make a deal simply for the sake of making a...

WASHINGTON-Iridium Inc. announced Chase Securities Inc. and BZW will be responsible for structuring and arranging the international syndication of a credit facility to complete the funding for the construction of the Iridium system.Both banks have been appointed global arrangers, and Chase, a subsidiary of...

BRUSSELS, Belgium-A move by the European Commission to regulate satellite communications systems has been thwarted by the Telecommunications Council of the European Union.The commission drafted a proposal last fall saying that licensing decisions elsewhere in the world-namely, the United States-would establish satellite phone operations...

WASHINGTON-Iridium Inc., the international consortium of telecommunications companies funding the development of the Iridium system, has become a charter mobile satellite services member of the Global System for Mobile communications MoU Association, Iridium announced.Through its affiliation, Iridium said it will work to establish roaming...

WASHINGTON-Iridium Inc. announced it has concluded a private financing within its existing investor group, raising an additional $315 million and boosting its total capital base from $1.6 billion to more than $1.9 billion.The additional funds will be applied by Iridium Inc. to the ongoing...

WASHINGTON-Where mobile satellite service policymaking is concerned, federal regulators are not promoting the friendly skies. Far from it.Competition is the name of the game at the Federal Communications Commission. The heavenly stage is being set for wireless Star Wars-close encounters of the unfriendly kind...

WASHINGTON-The United States had mixed success in securing more spectrum for next-generation global satellite systems at the World Radiocommunication Conference in Geneva, an event unexpectedly preoccupied with the mammoth Teledesic Corp. network planned by high-tech billionaires Craig McCaw and Bill Gates."I think this conference...

WASHINGTON-Countries worldwide are invited to invest in Iridium Inc., an international consortium planning to introduce global satellite communications.The Iridium Global Ownership Program will facilitate direct ownership in the project, said Iridium's board of investors. From each country, an entity selected by the national government...

Fearing fratricide in the sky, Wall Street is losing its ardor for backing risky telecommunications ventures with junk bonds. In recent weeks, mobile satellite service developers Iridium Inc. and Globalstar L.P. have had to scrap high-yield, high-risk debt offerings after meeting resistance from the...

BRUSSELS-The European Commission is investigating three consortia building mobile satellite systems to guage the effect those global systems will have on future competition in European Union nations.Globalstar L.P., Iridium Inc. and Inmarsat-P have been asked by Karel Van Miert, EC commissioner in charge of...

Korea Electric Power Corp. added eight sites to the existing four sites of its L.M. Ericsson Ltd. trunked system, which uses Enhanced Digital Access Communications System technology. Korea Electric hopes to expand the system by the end of the year to cover all of...

Editor's Note: The RCR research and editorial departments have compiled this list of mobile satellite carriers based on survey responses and interviews with industry contacts. The chart is arranged alphabetically because most of the companies are not yet offering service.Inmarsat-P has been spun off as...

WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission will vote next week on positions the United States may take at a major international conference in Geneva this fall, amid charges that the microwave and personal communications services industries might get shortchanged.At issue is an industry recommendation to reallocate...

Culminating seven years of development and fine-tuning, American Mobile Satellite Corp. has launched the country's first satellite for mobile communications, giving lift-off to a new form of wireless services.Hughes Communications Inc., a division of GM Hughes Electronics, built AMSC's geostationary satellite, supporting mobile voice...