Iridium Delays Launch of Global Satellite System

Iridium said Wednesday that it delayed the commercial launch of its global satellite telecommunications system by more than a month to complete testing and make final refinements to the $5-billion venture.

Following 11 years of design, development and implementation, Iridium said it will introduce the service free of charge to a limited number of customers worldwide Sept. 23 in order to do final testing and fine-tune the system, but it will postpone full commercial roll-out until Nov. 1.

The 66 low-Earth-orbit satellites will allow users to make phone calls or receive pages anywhere in the world.

Technicians were “working to improve operational stability of the network,” Iridium said, adding that the final version of satellite software is in place.

Despite the delay, Iridium said it still expects to have a positive cash flow by the end of 1999. And Motorola Inc., which as the founder of Iridium holds a 20% stake and is the principal supplier of infrastructure and phones, said it still expects Iridium to make a “significant contribution” to profit in 1999.

Iridium has put into orbit an unprecedented 79 satellites, including backups, aboard 17 launch vehicles in 16 months. The system combines the worldwide reach of the satellites with land-based wireless phone networks to enable customers to communicate using special phones and pagers.

Of the launched satellites, seven have been declared nonfunctioning and one is experiencing communications difficulties but may be able to be fixed.

Shares of Bermuda-based Iridium World Communications Ltd., the publicly traded financing vehicle behind Iridium, rose 13 cents to close at $34.50 on Nasdaq. Motorola’s shares fell $1 to $42 on the New York Stock Exchange.