Motorola Awards $1-Billion Celestri Contract

Motorola Inc. said it will pay French-British venture Matra Marconi Space more than $1 billion to supply power, propulsion and avionics equipment for Celestri, Motorola’s planned global satellite communications network. Matra Marconi Space beat bids from Lockheed Martin Corp., Hughes Electronics Corp. and TRW Inc., among others. The company is 51%-owned by Lagardere of France and 49% by General Electric Co. of Britain. Celestri is one of several satellite projects looking to capture spiraling demand worldwide for high-speed data services, such as Internet access and faxing. Motorola has been looking for partners to invest in the $12.9-billion network, and the contract both brings Matra Marconi on board and makes Celestri more attractive to other financiers, analysts said. Shares of Schaumburg, Ill.-based Motorola fell 88 cents to close at $61.56 on the New York Stock Exchange.