Motorola Inc has thrown in the towel on its ambitious plans to build a $12.9bn Internet in the sky satellite network, and partnered with Teledesic LLC instead. Yesterday, Motorola announced plans to invest $750m in Teledesic, the broadband satellite communications outfit backed by Microsoft chairman Bill Gates and cellular pioneer Craig McCaw. As a result, Motorola has dropped its own plans for the 63 satellite Celestri network, announced just under a year ago (CI No 3,184). Motorola gets a 26% stake in Teledesic and becomes the main contractor for the engineering and construction work on the satellite system. Matra Marconi Space, an Anglo-French company that had agreed last year to work with Motorola on Celestri will also join Teledesic. Gates and McCaw each held a 30% stake in the venture, which is set to begin its service in 2003, before the Motorola deal. It was unclear at press time by how much these stakes had been diluted. For the full story, see Network Briefing.
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