TRW to Build High-Speed Satellite Network

TRW Inc. threw its hat in the ring to provide high-speed data transmission capabilities via satellite. The Cleveland-based company’s Space & Electronics group in Redondo Beach plans to build a $3.4-billion satellite network that could transmit data 100,000 times faster than today’s standard PC modems. The network would operate in a newly opened spectrum, called “extremely high frequencies,” or EHF, and provide broad-band communications services to telecommunications carriers, governments and private networks. “This has the same capabilities as a fiber-optic cable system, but it’s up in space,” TRW spokesman Jack Prichett said. TRW filed a license application for the new satellite system with the Federal Communications Commission on Thursday. Any FCC action on those applications could be years away, Prichett said. The only satellites currently operating in the EHF spectrum between 37.5 gigahertz and 50.2 gigahertz are two Milstar military satellites, which were built by TRW. TRW shares fell 69 cents to close at $54.69 on the New York Stock Exchange.