iSky completed a second round of financing, raising $137 million, toward the first phase of its planned Ka-band satellite system. Echostar Communications Corp. [DISH] was the lead investor in the round, putting up $50 million, iSky said.

Also participating in the second round financing were the company’s other investors including the preeminent venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Buyers of Palo Alto, Calif.; former TCI Inc. Chairman John Malone’s investment vehicle, Liberty Media; TV Guide; and TRW Inc. [TRW].

“We are now ahead of iSky’s financing goals,” said Thomas Moore, iSky’s president and CEO. “We are on our way to deploying the fist Ka-band satellite system that can provide affordable broadband Internet laces to every person in the United States, Canada and Latin America.

“We forecast that at least 25 million to 30 million homes in the United States will not have access to other broadband solutions when we launch next year,” Moore added. The company’s initial phase will consist of its own satellite iSky 1 and the Ka-band payload on Telesat Canada’s Anik F2 satellite now under construction. It plans to begin service late in 2001.

iSky said it will need $750 million in debt and equity financing to begin service and had raised about half of that. “Our funding needs are relatively low compared [with] other satellite, cable and DSL infrastructure players, when you consider [that] we will be able to reach virtually every household in North America with a broadband solution with this initial phase alone,” said Paul Forelich, iSky’s vice president for finance.