trumpdisasterprez
Oct 31, 3:52 PM
$VZ $T $TMUS $SPCX $TSLA
Cautionary tales to consider before spending
$75 billion putting 15,000 satellites in orbit to replicate services that largely already exist.
Teledesic was an ambitious 1990s commercial satellite startup that aimed to build a global, high-speed broadband network using a constellation of low-Earth-orbit (LEO) satellites. Often nicknamed the "Internet in the Sky," it was founded in 1994 by wireless pioneer Craig McCaw and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, with early backing from Boeing, and Motorola.
Smaller Iridium and Globalstar satellite constellations became operational in the late 1990s, but Teledesic’s constellation was never deployed. And despite the work done, these three companies all shared the same fate, falling victim to the bursting of the dot-com bubble, which saw the Nasdaq collapse 77% from its March 2000 peak by October 2002. It was a complete disaster for the three contenders for the role of global satellite provider.
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