Posted: Tue, Nov 6, 2001, 10:07 AM ET (1507 GMT)
Satellite communications companies ICO and Teledesic announced Monday afternoon that they will not merge into a single company. ICO, officially known as New ICO since its reemergence from bankruptcy, will instead merge with ICO Global, a holding company created by Teledesic cofounder Craig McCaw 18 months ago to hold the assets of both ICO and Teledesic. McCaw said in a statement that the decision not merge ICO and Teledesic was made to "maintain maximum flexibility" in the market. Both ICO Global and Teledesic will "aggressively pursue" their business plans, which the statement describes as "independent yet complimentary", and may reconsider a merger in the future. ICO, originally focused on global mobile phone service, has expanded their plans to include medium-bandwidth Internet and other packed data services, while Teledesic plans to provide broadband data and voice services. Teledesic has yet to launch a satellite or even name its prime contractor; ICO placed its first satellite in orbit earlier this year but has yet to roll out any commercial services.

Related Links:

•  ICO Global press release
•  Reuters article