13. Lynn Forester
FirstMark Communications
Job description: Founder and co-chairman
Age, Nationality: 46, American
Web address: www.firstmark.net
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Not many European start-ups have raised $1 billion or can boast of backing from the business élite in both the U.S. and Europe. FirstMark, a two-year-old wireless broadband services company, has done both. Forester, an attorney known for her political and business connections, established herself as a wireless entrepreneur in the Americas and then set her sights on Europe, attracting the heads of Grupa Prisa, N.M. Rothschild & Sons and Suez Lyonnaise des Eaux to the board of FirstMark's holding company. FirstMark is introducing competitive broadband services into the ³local loop,² the part of the network that connects homes and offices to the wider telecoms grid. Instead of cabling, FirstMark uses fixed wireless broadband technology, which delivers voice, high-speed Internet connections and video services from base stations to rooftop antennas via radio waves. FirstMark has already won wireless licenses in seven European countries, started building fiber-optic networks to link wireless local loops and filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering.
The vision thing: "Eventually, broadband for the home will be a huge application."
Forward spin: FirstMark is targeting small- and medium-sized businesses with high-speed, always-on Internet access, but it may eventually offer broadband for the home.
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