The Internet Space Race

Still, the new Teledesic promises to be a formidable competitor. “The two of them together certainly makes the venture more credible,” says Maehl. In addition to the savvy and deep pockets of Gates and McCaw, it has strong international backing. In April, billionaire Prince Alwaleed of Saudi Arabia invested $200 million for a 13.7% stake–and agreed to help market the service.SPEEDY. Motorola’s satellite-building skills will also be critical. The company has trimmed satellite manufacturing time down to little more than four days, compared with an industry average of two years for larger birds. “Really, the best people to build [Teledesic] would be Motorola, because they have this assembly-line technique,” says Marco Caceres, senior space analyst at market researcher Teal Group.