Iridium LLC sent and received the first wireless transmissions earlier this month with low-earth orbiting satellites, Motorola Inc. said.
Schaumburg, Ill.-based Motorola, Iridium’s biggest investor, said signals were sent July 3 from one of 17 satellites that will be used in Iridium’s $5 billion global network and received by pagers.
Four days later, Iridium’s wireless phones received transmissions from a satellite, the company said.
The network is scheduled to begin operating in late 1998, after all 66 satellites are in place.
Customers with Iridium phones and pagers will be able to use the satellites to send or receive calls and messages from any location worldwide.
Motorola owns about 23 percent of Washington-based Iridium, which will own, market and manage the network.
