The End of the Teledesic dream. At least Teledesic will die a solvent death. Today, the market has spoken — (relatively) cheap world-girdling comm links are not to be. Of course, with the growth of xDSL and fiber (and cell towers) in dense metrops lessens any attraction satellite comms (with their expense and limited bandwidth - for example, an INSAT transponder can carry 64kbps max and costs beacoup thousands; I can get that on cable by paying about Rs 1000 a month in Madras) may have had. Of course, Intelsat and Inmarsat continue to provide great (if expensive) service to those off the beaten track, but for now, the Internet will remain very much a urban-jungle phenomenon. Pity.

PS. All is not lost. Satellite freaks (the real Wireless freaks! :-)) still have their sugar daddy — the United States Armed Forces still have the most sophisticated planet girdling comm systems by far.