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 […]
Could the end be in sight for some of the giant online players? While few doubt the might of the Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Google names, some critics are beginning to see the ‘beginning of the end’ for these players. One name not usually associated with the FAANG grouping is Microsoft, a once-upon-a-time giant, […]
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 […]
Freedom of the press is often cited as a basic requirement of a genuinely free and democratic society. And it is true that a universal early symptom of advancing authoritarianism is curbs on a free press: look at Russia, look at Turkey, look at any historical example of a totalitarian takeover of any previously free […]