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Private company

Teledesic

Satellite company

Teledesic was a company founded in the 1990s to build a commercial broadband satellite internet constellation. Using low-Earth-orbiting satellites small antennas could be used to provide uplinks of as much as 100 Mbit/s and downlinks of up to 720 Mbit/s. The original 1994 proposal was extremely ambitious, costing over 9 billion USD and originally planning 840 active satellites with in-orbit spares at an altitude of 700 km (430 mi).2 It ceased to exist in 2002.1 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

1990Founded1

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Teledesic Satellite
Photo: Ahsasin8 at en.wikipedia, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons3

Teledesic was a company founded in the 1990s to build a commercial broadband satellite internet constellation. Using low-Earth-orbiting satellites small antennas could be used to provide uplinks of as much as 100 Mbit/s and downlinks of up to 720 Mbit/s. The original 1994 proposal was extremely ambitious, costing over 9 billion USD and originally planning 840 active satellites with in-orbit spares at an altitude of 700 km (430 mi). In 1997, the plan was scaled back to 288 active satellites at 1400 km (900 miles). Teledesic Corporation changed its name to Teledesic, LLC by pro forma assignment of its license, granted on 26 January 1998.2

Timeline

  1. 2002Dissolved Dissolved1
  2. 1990Founded Founded1

Sources

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