The UK’s first ‘spaceport’, planned for a coastal location in the Scottish highlands in north Sutherland is at risk because of local objectors. The £45 million plan on the A’Mhoine Peninsula is home to just 150 people and has been chosen by the UK’s Space Agency as the launch site to place smallish satellites into […]
Intelsat and SES, and their partners Eutelsat and Telesat in the C-Band Alliance (CBA), are pressing the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to wrap up consideration of its plan “as soon as possible” and promise orders will quickly flow for new satellites over the UIS. In a letter, lawyers for the CBA summarised a meeting between […]
Winston Churchill famously said that democracy was the worst system of government, apart from all the others that had been tried. I’ve heard both sides call that saying in aid as they argue about Brexit. Leavers say the referendum was perfect democracy, while remainers say it was deeply flawed as everyone voted without any idea […]
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has approved a cluster of planned satellite constellations. The total of satellites which received the FCC stamp of approval is a staggering 7859. It is quite possible that not all will take flight, but the FCC has simply said the market must decide on success or failure. The FCC levied […]
On October 29th a 64-page document was submitted to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and expanding considerably the C-Band Alliance’s (CBA) proposal to release 200 MHz of satellite spectrum (in the 3.7-4.2 GHz band) for 5G use over the US. The FCC filing was followed up by the CBA’s Preston Padden (EVP at the Alliance) […]
The satellite industry is a carefully structured business. With every DTH satellite costing upwards of a quarter-billion dollars to build launch (and insure) operators have to be sure of the business they expect to gather. However, there are plans afoot for thousands of new satellites to be launched over the next 5 years. Even though […]
The world’s two largest satellite operators, Intelsat and SES, have enjoyed considerable share-price rises largely because of the “windfall” gains expected to flow from the re-versioning of their C-band frequencies over the US. One market commentator, having conducted a detail examination of the objections to the scheme, is extremely pessimistic, saying the C-Band Alliance’s (CBA) […]
Struggling satellite operator Avanti Communications is having a tough time and a near-total collapse in its already stressed share price. This past week has seen its share price fall from 3.9 pence/share to a miserable 3p as shareholder confidence evaporated. One month ago its share price stood at 4.75p per share. Back in February shares […]
For sci-fi writers the prospects of orbiting ‘space tugs’ have been a staple of their writings. Whether to somehow rescue problem satellites, or simply act as an orbiting refuelling source, the ‘satellite life extension’ concept seem to have all the common sense logic that would propel the idea into real world usage. ‘Not so’, seems […]
ViaSat of Carlsbad, California, has agreed a $188 million (€165.3m) insurance claim as compensation for antenna failures on its ViaSat-2 satellite. Some $44.4 million has already been banked. ViaSat operates high-speed fixed and mobile broadband services to North American consumers as well as government and large commercial users. The operator is expanding over Europe and […]