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.
Up until now it is Elon Musk’s SpaceX that has added snappy names to its floating landing vessels. Musk’s fleet is named ‘Just Read the Instructions’, ‘A Shortfall of Gravitas’ and ‘Of Course I Still Love You’. Now The Jeff Bezos-backed Blue Origin rocket business is getting into the act. For example, Blue Origin’s New […]
Analysts at investment business Sanford C Bernstein are less than optimistic about Jeff Bezos and Amazon’s Project Kuiper broadband-by-satellite scheme. The launch dates for some of the first batches of satellites have slipped from Q4 this year to Q1 2025, but there’s more negative opinion now emerging. Sanford analyst Mark Shmulik has previously been overall […]
It seems, despite much confusion and the departure of Thierry Breton, the EC Commissioner with oversight of the scheme, a Plan B contract for the IRIS2 (Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity and Security by Satellite) highly secure mega-constellation could be signed by the end of this year. The reformed and much stripped-down consortium (comprising SES, Eutelsat […]
The October 2nd raid by South Africa communications regulator Icasa on satellite broadcaster StarSat was deliberately damaging said StarSat officials. Senior technical staff were at the broadcaster’s Johannesburg head office and tried to tell Icasa and the police during the raid which equipment operated their systems. But, says StarSat, this advice was ignored and cables […]
SpaceX’s Starlink broadband system is testing its direct-to-cellular (D2C) satellite phone system in Romania, designed to show that Starlink satellites can operate at up to eight times the capacity currently allowed by the ITU’s EPFD (Equivalent Power Flux Density) limits, while still protecting geostationary satellites. Starlink’s D2C proposals are highly controversial, and many terrestrial cellular […]
Seven European cellular operators have issued negative comments on SpaceX’s plans to use its Starlink broadband satellites to provide ‘Direct-to-Cellular’ (D2C) services to consumers. Seven companies – including Vodafone, Liberty Global, Orange, PPF Telecom, Telefonica, Telenor and United Group – have told the FCC they’ll sue if the Commission loosens its rules for SpaceX’s cellular […]
Rivada Space Networks is insisting that despite some negative media stories, it remains firmly on track to meet its build and launch obligations for its 300 satellite mega-constellation. Brian Carney, Rivada’s SVP/Communications, commented: “We are confident that we will be able to finance our satellite production and meet our regulatory milestones. Since the takeover [of […]
It should not be forgotten in the acres of business news coverage over the DirecTV (and TPG) acquisition of DISH Network that in selling DISH, chairman Charlie Ergen is very much giving up his ‘baby’. When his EchoStar 1 satellite was launched on a Chinese Long March rocket in 1995 Ergen was in the launch […]
Rivada Space Networks, the would-be constellation operator of 288 yet-to-be-built satellites, is in deep trouble. Rivada’s litany of problems continues to mount. Not only is it late in stumping up the small matter of $2.4 billion (€2.1bn) needed to build its ‘OuterNet’ constellation, Rivada now faces another major hurdle from its licensing authority, the tiny […]
SES says it will pay shareholders its 25c dividend later in October. The news coincided with a report from investment bank BNP/Paribas and while it does not reveal a great deal of ‘new’ news, it has some very interesting extra elements. The report, from the bank’s Sami Kassab, notes that SES recently won a large […]
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