Teledesic Corp. Names Key Appointments.

KIRKLAND, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 2, 1996--Teledesic Corp., which will provide global advanced two-way digital data, video and voice services via a constellation of low-Earth-orbit communications satellites, recently named a power system product manager, a marketing manager and a design process engineer as part of the company's continued growth.

Bill Yerkes, a leading engineer with more than 30 years of space experience, has been named Teledesic's new power system product manager. Yerkes will be responsible for the satellite network's electrical power generation, batteries and distribution systems, including the solar arrays and deployment system.

-- Yerkes most recently served as electric/prototype laboratory manager for Boeing Defense and Space Group. Previously, Yerkes was a member of the start-up management team at the Boeing High Technology Center, a facility for making advanced GaAs RF and photonic devices. Before that, he was founder and president of Siemens Solar, the world's largest photovoltaic company. He also previously served as chief executive officer of Spectrolab, the largest producer of solar cells for space, before selling the company to Hughes Aircraft in 1975. Yerkes is a graduate of Stanford University.

-- As marketing manager for Teledesic, Daniel M. Kohn will be responsible for all marketing activities. Before joining the company, Kohn was co-founder and CEO of NetMarket, one of the earliest commercial Internet companies and the first to conduct a secure commercial transaction on the World Wide Web.

In 1994, Kohn sold NetMarket to CUC International, a $5 billion New York Stock Exchange company, and left after running the independent subsidiary for a year. Kohn is a graduate of Exeter and Swarthmore College, and has studied at the London School of Economics.

-- As design process engineer, Mark Lundstrom will be responsible for engineering the process of design for the Teledesic Network as well as assisting the industrial alliance building process. Before joining Teledesic, Lundstrom was co-founder and vice president of operations for Active Control eXperts Inc., a manufacturing company that commercialized the technology of active control of intelligent materials such as piezoelectrics. ACX's high volume products include actuators for K-2's SmartSkis.

Previously, Lundstrom was a Leaders for Manufacturing Fellow at The Boeing Co. He also has worked as an engineer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Lundstrom holds bachelor's and master's degrees in aeronautical and astronautical engineering from MIT. He also holds an MBA from MIT's Sloan School of Management. As a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University, Lundstrom received a master's in economics.

Utilizing a constellation of several hundred low-Earth-orbit satellites, Teledesic will enable affordable access to advanced information services to institutions and individuals anywhere in the world. This ability to deliver advanced, "fiber-like" digital transmission capability at low-cost, regardless of location, distinguishes the Teledesic Network from other existing and proposed communications systems.

Backed by telecommunications pioneer Craig McCaw and Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, the Teledesic Network will provide switched, broadband connections anywhere on Earth for applications such as voice, data, videoconferencing and interactive multimedia. Initial service is scheduled to begin prior to 2002.

CONTACT: Teledesic Corp.

Roger Nyhus, 206/720-1739