Chris Forrester is one of the most experienced and highly regarded journalists in the field. His insight and analysis, particularly in the satellite and pay-TV arena, is highly prized. He has written for all the major business journals in the sector as well as several national newspapers.
Investment bank Exane/BNPP followed up Eutelsat’s end-of-year results with a note to clients praising the satellite operator’s “solid Q4 revenue performance”. The bank’s satellite analyst Sami Kassab welcomed Eutelsat’s improving volume trends in Fixed Data and Maritime as well as one-off benefits in Government. “The bread and butter Video business was in line,” said Kassab. […]
Would-be mega-constellation OneWeb, which is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy organisation, has been granted a 90-day extension of the timetable to produce a formal plan as to how it might exit Chapter 11. OneWeb is in the process of being acquired by the UK government along with Indian telco Bharti Global who have both promised to […]
Eutelsat will unveil its full year numbers (for the year to June 30th) on July 31st. The market, notwithstanding some interesting recent news releases concerning Canal Plus (for an Ethiopian DTH bundle) and Orange France and its plan to secure capacity on Eutelsat’s Konnect craft for a ‘broadband by satellite’ service over France, believes revenues […]
Putting $50 million into the consortium buying bankrupt OneWeb could be extremely lucrative for EchoStar subsidiary Hughes Network Systems/Hughes Connects (HNS). Hughes was an original investor in OneWeb and is now likely to gain $300 million in contracts for at least some of OneWeb’s important ground segment installations. HNS, via EchoStar, signed a contract with […]
The UK is keen on establishing so-called Spaceports, whether in Scotland or the West of England. It has just signed a Treaty-level agreement with the US which allows use of US-built rockets from British locations. The UK’s Space Agency (UKSA) says that a US-UK Technology Safeguards Agreement (TSA) agreed in June potentially opens up activity […]
July 22nd saw Eutelsat announce that French telco Orange had taken all of the available capacity targeting France on Eutelsat’s current ‘Konnect’ satellite. Sami Kassab, an equity analyst at investment bank Exane/BNPP, says that while neither party disclosed the size or value of the contract the deal was likely to involve 5-10Gb/s of High Throughput […]
North American pay-radio operator SiriusXM has done well for its shareholders, including Liberty Media (73 per cent shareholding). The past week has seen BMW confirm that it will install SiriusXM’s 360L on-demand satellite + streaming audio player in all its 2021 vehicle range (except for some of the Series 1 models and X1 and X2 […]
The Russian rocket launch city at Baikonur, Kazakhstan is suffering a major increase in Covid-19 cases according to local media. The city and its associated launch facilities has a population of some 40,000 almost all of whom live in Russian housing in the form of cramped apartment blocks. The local authorities say that the official […]
These days, for any aircraft-based In-Flight Connectivity (IFC) broadband system to be considered a success, the aircraft need to start flying again and carrying passengers. A report from Northern Sky Research (NSR) sums up the problem perfectly, saying: “While most of the aviation industry is treading water in the ongoing travel deterrence scenario by focusing […]
OneWeb, now in the process of being acquired by the British government and Indian telco giant Bharti Global, is going ahead with building satellites ahead of any decision to incorporate the UK’s plans for a rival global positioning system to rival Europe’s Galileo. OneWeb’s bankruptcy court permitted the British and Indian joint-venture, (called ‘BidCo 100’) […]
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