Reviving Iridium

They pioneered the concept of a satellite-based, wireless personal communications network that could be accessed from anywhere on earth. The engineers worked hard to bring to life the concept of satellite telephones. They launched gateways³ in 1988 to facilitate the proposed Iridium satellites to communicate with the existing terrestrial telephone systems throughout the world. In 1991, Motorola incorporated Iridium to develop and deploy the satellite network system. Besides Motorola, which held a 20.1% stake in the venture, some of the other major partners included Germany's Vebacom with 10%, Korea Mobile Telecommunications-4.4%, Sprint Corporation-4.4% and Italy's STET with-3.8% stakes respectively. In 1992, the US Government Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued an experimental licence to Iridium.

In 1992, Iridium also signed a US $3.37 billion contract with Motorola for construction, delivery and system development. This made Motorola the prime contractor for supplying satellites, gateways and communication products for Iridium.

By the end of 1993, the company had raised US $800 million as equity. After the second round of equity financing in 1994, Iridium's capital increased to US $1.6 billion. In 1995, the Federal Communication Department of the US government granted an operational license to Iridium. In 1996, Motorola launched the first Iridium satellite. In the same year, Iridium also entered into agreements with various mobile satellite service providers...