Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 22, 1994 TAG: 9403220183
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Under federal law, anyone who wants to transmit on radio waves has to get government permission, from the smallest AM radio station to the most advanced video communications technology.
The Teledesic project - brainchild of Microsoft chairman William Gates and McCaw Cellular Communications chairman Craig McCaw - would use 840 satellites, positioned in a netlike pattern across the heavens, bouncing signals to and from any location on the planet.
It would use ``broadband'' digital technology that could accommodate video, voice and data transmissions, including video conferencing.
The project has been in design almost four years and would cost about $9 billion, said Teledesic president Russell Daggatt, based in Kirkland, Wash., but here Monday to take the appropriate papers to the FCC.
``We are just now filing the FCC applications,'' he said. ``Up to this point we have not had any official [government] contacts.''
No satellite has been manufactured or launched yet, nor has all the money been raised that will be needed to fulfill Teledesic's goals.
The section of the airwaves the company seeks is very high frequency and also is being sought for various uses by other companies who have filed applications with the FCC.
The FCC had no immediate comment on the Teledesic filings, but lawyers at the agency indicated that companies applying for the same spectrum space may be asked to negotiate among themselves for compatibility.
For Teledesic to be fully global, the radio frequencies also would have to be coordinated through the International Telecommunications Union, and the venture would have to clear individual governments abroad, Daggatt said.
Clearing just the U.S. regulatory hurdles could take many months, but the goals of the company are in line with the vision of the Clinton administration and FCC Chairman Reed Hundt for a universal ``information superhighway.''
``We think it's a very bold and exciting proposal that could offer great opportunities for rural and remote areas,'' said a senior White House official.
by CNB