At an analyst's meeting on August 3, Motorola's Chief Operating Officer Robert Growney announced that the company would consider increasing its investment in Iridium if other partners give their proportional share, according to an analyst who attended the meeting.

"One came away with the idea that they didn't want to unilaterally put up money," the analyst, Lawrence Borgman, of Josephthal & Co. Inc., said.

A Motorola spokesman, Scott Wyman, said the company was optimistic that negotiations would be successful.

While Motorola says it will not discuss deals in negotiations, there is speculation that the company, which owns 18 percent of Iridium, has offered to invest another $400 million in Iridium if bondholders agree to trade in their securities for debt that could be traded in for stock. Bloomburg News reported in July that Motorola wants to increase its stake in the company to 40 percent.

Iridium's satellite phones and pagers rely on an expensive array of low-orbiting satellites to provide service anywhere in the world. The company spent $5 billion for the satellite network, but has pulled in only a fraction of what it needs to break even on its investment.

And creditors are beginning to bark about debt repayment. Chase Manhattan claims the company has defaulted on its $800 million loan. Iridium denies Chase Manhattan's claim, saying instead that the two companies are still negotiating.

Iridium has made more sales recently after cutting prices, but even doubling its customer base wouldn't do much, Borgman said.

In July, Growney suggested that the Iridium might have to file for bankruptcy or even liquidate if the company's finances were not restructured.

In morning trading on August 5, Iridium shares were down 7/32, or 3.48%, to 6 1/16. Motorola was down 1 5/8, or 1.79%, to 89 1/8.