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.
A week ago Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) was talking openly of closing (or perhaps selling or merging) its Palo Alto satellite construction facility, and blaming the decision on the downturn in commercial geostationary satellite orders. SS/L stated that 2019 might see no more than 8 or 9 new orders, and when divided amongst the industry this […]
Iridium is a supplier of satellite-based voice and data communications which uses L-band spectrum from its 66 satellites. It has had a very troubled history following its Motorola financing and debut in 1998. It went Chapter 11 bankrupt – and the largest-ever at the time – in 1999. But a new generation of satellites, Iridium-NEXT, […]
OneWeb, founded by Greg Wyler, is planning to circle the planet with a mega-constellation of hundreds of satellites in order to reach unserved, or underserved, broadband consumers. It has just swapped out its CEO which is something of a concern to the industry, but there are now extra questions over its financing and business model. […]
LeoSat is a proposed Low Earth Orbiting (LEO) fleet of satellites offering business users what it describes as “the fastest, most secure and widest coverage data network” available. The service is targeted at users seeking ultra-fast communications for their data. LeoSat is planning for up to 108 LEO craft which use Laser beams for their […]
One commentator, on the September 6th news that owners Maxar Technologies is looking at “strategic alternatives” as far as its satellite building Space Systems/Loral’s Palo Alto facility is concerned, said “merge it, sell it or scrap it”. Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) is not wholly exiting the satellite business, but there are major question marks over its […]
Corporate statements tend not to be quite so brutal, and rarely can one read phrases such as “disastrous management” – in this case uttered by Vivendi – towards Telecom Italia (TIM), with Vivendi adding: “The stock market performance is dramatic: TIM’s share price dropped about 35% since May 4, 2018, and is at its lowest […]
Despite a firm rebuttal, investment bank RBC Capital still sees EchoStar wanting to walk Inmarsat down the aisle, although the bank says another offer isn’t likely any time soon. EchoStar made it bid announcement public on June 8th, and later saying that it had deliberately bought a 3 per cent stake plus 10.4 of Inmarsat’s […]
The US Air Force is reportedly close to making a decision on an extremely important set of contracts covering future ‘Launch Service Agreements’. NASA has just held a series of Advisory Council meetings, where administrator Jim Bridenstine briefed that NASA believed not just in reusable rockets, but that “private” companies would be playing a major […]
Russia’s satellite launching answer to Arianespace and SpaceX is the giant Russian Proton rocket, managed and marketed to ‘western’ satellite operators by International Launch Services (ILS). With Arianespace developing its Ariane 6 series of rockets as an answer to the competitive challenges from Elon Musk’s SpaceX Falcon 9, Russia’s Roscosmos space agency was planning its […]
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