bankruptcy in August virtually alongside competitors Iridium LLC, has been bailed out by the communications executive Craig McCaw. Financing the company to the potential tune of $1.2 billion will leave McCaw with owning stakes in ICO.

By late this summer the company had been looking to liquidate both its Bermuda operations and those of its Cayman Islands subsidiary. However, bankruptcy courts in Bermuda, the Caymans and the US approved a short-term investment injection of $150 million early in November from a group headed by McCaw, a cellular telephone pioneer.

Financial rescue came in part from McCaw's corporations Eagle River Investments LLC and Teledesic LLC -- the latter being an ambitious broadband system which hopes to make use of ICO's services. ICO itself hopes to obtain further approvals for investment from courts on December 3.

The deal, announced in November, was followed shortly by opening talks between McCaw and Iridium LLC on a similar investment boost. Also incorporated in Bermuda, the $5 billion Iridium filed for bankruptcy within two weeks of its rival in the satellite telephone market.

According to director of corporate communications for Teledesic Roger Nyhus, McCaw sees the two companies as potentially dovetailing by offering "different services to different markets''.