Iridium to Sell Bulk Air Time

The new owners of a nearly scrapped $5.5-billion satellite service said they would sell bulk air time that could vastly expand telecommunications in China, Russia, India and elsewhere in the developing world. Iridium Satellite, an investor group, said it had “millions of minutes going to waste” after wrapping up the $25-million purchase of the 66-satellite, low-orbit network in bankruptcy court in Manhattan. “We don’t have a shortage” of air time to wholesale at “extremely competitive” rates, said Dan Colussy, chairman of the venture. The new owners plan to market air time at less than $1.50 a minute to firms in aviation, maritime services, oil and gas, mining, heavy construction, forestry and emergency services. This compares with prices as high as $7 a minute that helped doom Iridium’s former owners, led by Motorola Corp., which built, bankrolled and operated the global satellite telephone system that began service Nov. 1, 1998.