Craig McCaw looks to have landed a $1.5bn European investor in his new Teledesic satellite network venture and according to European press reports, British Telecom is in for $1.5bn and has already committed, although insiders say this be confirmed when other investors are on board. BT is declining to comment. The venture, into which Bill Gates has already put $10m, intends to achieve global coverage by putting up 840 satellites, more than ten times more than its nearest contender. Building and launching the birds is budgeted at $7.3bn, with another $2.5bn needed to get the venture off the ground. British Telecom sold its stake in McCaw’s McCaw Cellular Communications Inc after it became clear that under the US rules then in force, it would effectively have to be a sleeping partner. Such restrictions have been eased by the Telecommunications Act.
