WildBlue Closes $156 Million for Broadband Satellite

WildBlue Communications, which is planning to launch two-way broadband satellite services for the contiguous United States, closed $156 million in funding from Liberty Satellite & Technology, Intelsat, National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative (NRTC), Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, and David Drucker, WildBlue’s chairman. WildBlue is expected to initiate its Ka-band spot beam service in 2004. WildBlue initially will offer its services using its license for the U.S. Ka-band payload aboard Telesat Canada’s Anik F2 satellite, being built by Boeing and scheduled to launch in late 2003 into the 111.1(degree) WL orbital location. Based on future financing, WildBlue plans to subsequently launch its own satellite, WildBlue-1, being manufactured by Space Systems Loral, into WildBlue’s 109.2(degree) WL orbital location. In addition to the new investors, WildBlue’s strategic investors include TeleSat, EchoStar, Gemstar – TV Guide; TRW and Arianespace.
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