WASHINGTON, March 21 -- Two of the nation's leading high-tech pioneers asked the Federal Communications Commission on Monday for permission to build a $9 billion satellite communications network.
Joining forces are Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates and McCaw Cellular Chairman Craig McCaw, who said they expect the new company, Teledesic Corp., to begin operating by 2001. The move represents one of the most expansive uses of defense technology for commercial purposes.
If successful, the project would be the biggest satellite network in the world, far surpassing Motorola Inc.'s planned $3.3 billion Iridium system of 66 satellites. Several governments are already backing systems such as Iridium, making the prospects for Teledisc shaky, according to some analysts.
However, the venture could received some major support from American Telephone & Telegraph Co., which is planning to buy McCaw's company for more than $12 billion.
Teledesic will place its 840 refrigerator-sized satellites into orbit at 435 miles above the Earth, compared to the 23,000-mile heighth used by conventional geosynchronous satellites. One advantage to the low orbit is that signals will be much stronger.
Teledesic filed an application Monday with the FCC. McCaw will serve as chairman of the company, based in the Seattle suburb of Kirkland, Wash.
The application said the 840-satellite network will offer an array of telecommunications services: conventional voice channels, broadband channels for video conferencing and interactive multimedia.
'Economic growth and human affairs have come to rely on good communications,' McCaw said in a written statement. 'Today, the costs to bring modern communications to poor and remote areas are so high that many of the world's people can't participate in our global community.'
McCaw said the company's venture represents 'a small step' on the road toward universal access of telecommunications technologies, a concept championed by the Clinton administration.
'There is an opportunity now to broaden this vision to include all of the world's citizens. Achieving that goal will require a broad cooperative effort. Through Teledesic, we hope to take a small step in that direction,' he said.
Teledesic enters an already crowded field of companies hoping to capture market share in global satellite communications. Most of those companies, however, are targeting executives with mobile phones who can pay high usage fees to make and receive calls anywhere in the world.
Teledesic does not plan to sell directly to individual customers, but is looking for partnerships with telephone companies in the United States and abroad that would lease space on its network.
Industry experts, however, question whether the $9 billion needed to build the network would make it too costly to be profitable.
Teledesic maintains the technology -- developed under 'brilliant pebbles,' part of the Strategic Defense Initiative -- along with the cost-cutting mass-production of the 840 desk-sized satellites will enable the network to function profitably.
