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Sky Station International
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Stratosphere Internet Project
Launched With Global Industrial Team  WASHINGTON, D.C.; PARIS, FRANCE; ROME, ITALY -- April 23, 1998 -- Sky Station International, Inc., an emerging provider of low-cost broadband Internet capacity via stratospheric platforms announced today the official launch of its global industrial team with the signing of an agreement with Aerospatiale SNI of France for Phase B design and development of Sky Station International's platforms. The team also includes Alenia Spazio/Finmeccanica of Italy as the primary payload developer; Dornier Satellitensysteme GmbH in Germany - a corporate unit of Daimler-Benz Aerospace - as the supplier for several critical subsystems; COMSAT Laboratories of Maryland as communications network integrator; Thomson-CSF Communications of France as gateway earth station manufacturer and payload sub-contractor; United Solar Systems Corp. of Michigan as supplier of lightweight photovoltaic modules; and Stanford Telecom of California as one of the contractors for user terminals. All of these companies' efforts will be coordinated by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), who will provide end-to-end system integration. The entire project is valued at $2.5 billion for a worldwide broadband infrastructure via Sky Station International's innovative stratospheric platforms. "I am extremely proud of the global industrial team we have assembled for this historic project," said General Alexander M. Haig, Jr., a Sky Station™ founder and Chairman of the Sky Station International Advisory Board. "This world-class industrial team represents a tour de force of business acumen and technology leadership that will deliver broadband information access to a billion households worldwide in the early years of the next decade. I am thrilled to be a part of it." Rene Pellat, currently High Commissioner of the French Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) and Chairman Emeritus of Sky Station France said, "This announcement marks a new beginning for commercial partnerships between France and the United States. French Industry will be a full partner in the development of this new technology as well as in the commercial success of each new application delivered by the platforms. I am proud to have been a part of the process which brought Sky Station International to France." On behalf of Alenia Spazio's Chairman, Giuseppe Viriglio stated, "From the beginning, Alenia Spazio has believed in the technical validity and the great potential for the Sky Station™ project. The participation of Aerospatiale lays the foundation today for a tripartite cooperation among industrial organizations in the United States, France and Italy in an important technological initiative rich with promises for the future." Sky Station International has pioneered technology enabling a
solar powered lighter-than-air platform to remain stationary in the stratosphere. A
telecommunications system onboard each Sky Station™ stratospheric platform delivers
high-speed wireless communications (T-1 and E-1) directly to millions of subscribers
within its 1,000 kilometer diameter footprint. Sky Station International's stratospheric
telecommunications system is scheduled for launch in 2001 with the deployment of platforms
21 kilometers above each of the world's major metropolitan areas. Worldwide regulatory
approval for the use of stratospheric platforms was granted by the International
Telecommunication Union (ITU) in November 1997 and by the U.S. Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) earlier that year. National authorities have already filed registrations
with the ITU for over 50 Sky Station™ platforms. For further information please contact: Artemis Scantalides, Manager, Corporate Communications Leo Savarese,
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