IBM has now managed to get shot of the last piece of its ill-fated Satellite Business Systems venture into telecommunications. When MCI Communications Inc bought most of the business, IBM had to hang onto three of the satellites, SBS 4 and SBS 5, which are already in orbit, and SBS 6, due to go up next June, because MCI could not afford them. IBM put them into a Satellite Transponder Leasing Corp Machines Corp, and has now found a buyer for the subsidiary in the shape of the Hughes Communications Inc subsidiary of General Motors Corp’s Hughes Aircraft Co. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. Hughes has provided exclusive marketing services for SBS 4 and SBS 5; it will also provide support for the launch of SBS 6 and lease transponder capacity to IBM for its own telecommunications needs.
