two parts, offering yields as high as 15 percent to win over investors sceptical of its plan to build a satellite communications network.

The company, which is backed by Motorola Inc., sold $500 million of 14 percent coupon notes, priced to yield 15 percent.

Iridium also issued $300 million of 13 percent notes priced to yield 13.5 percent. The bonds include warrants for a total of one percent of the company's stock.

The bonds' yield are "not outside the realm of the market for a speculative, telecommunications growth-oriented company,'' said Tom Haag, a portfolio manager at Lutheran Brotherhood in Minneapolis, who bought both bonds. "There were high-yield deals done this year with higher yields and higher equity components.'' The company boosted the size of the sale. It originally planned to issue $750 million of debt, but cancelled plans on Thursday to sell $250 million of zero-coupon bonds when investors balked at the terms, under which they wouldn't receive any interest for several years.

Officials from Chase Securities, which led underwriters on the sale, said there weren't enough bonds to fill all bids.

Iridium is building a 66-satellite network designed to permit telephone transmission, including voice, data and paging, from anywhere on earth. So far, the venture has launched 17 satellites. It doesn't expect any revenue until September of next year.

One of the owners of Irirdium LLC is Bermuda-based Iridium World Coommunications Ltd., which raised $188 million in an initial public offering earlier this year.