It is a tale of two cities, where one is an evil regime that won’t allow people to watch satellite TV, and then there’s Iran! Iran doesn’t like satellite TV, or perhaps more accurately it doesn’t like TV that comes into its country from outside its borders. The United Nations, via the International Telecommunications Union, […]

China’s Prime Minister Wen Jiabao’s son, Wen Yunsong, has taken the helm at APY Satellite Holdings, the Hong Kong-based satellite operator. As a result the company’s stock price has rocketed by almost 50 per cent this past week. Investors – and China-watchers generally – are betting on the move representing a change of heart by […]

By common consent, two types of employee in the modern world are vastly overpaid: bankers and footballers. The difference, again by common consent, is that if footballers don’t perform, it is obvious and they are got rid of – the Darwinism of the market. Whereas, bankers continue to earn vast sums despite their banks making […]

GE Satcom, an old-established satellite services provider, and owner of the Satlynx two-way broadband services, has changed its name to Signalhorn.  Satlynx/Signalhorn has a wide portfolio of satellite-based services in the Government, Defence, Enterprise, Maritime, and Oil & Gas customers totalling more than 300 clients and over 10,000 remote sites. The change of ownership took […]

Last Friday, both SES and Eutelsat delivered major sets of financial numbers. SES and Eutelsat issued cautious statements, and were marked down by the market. Investment bank Morgan Stanley has put out reports on both satellite operators. The bank said that Eutelsat’s ‘prudent’ statement “put a damper on its stock price” as CEO Michel de […]

Deepak Mathur, SES’s SVP/Commercial for Asia-Pac and the Middle East, says that India’s seven competing DTH broadcasters are likely to add more than 25 million new subscribers between now and 2016. Today’s DTH numbers total more than 44.4 million (as at November 30 2011). Mathur says that India is now the largest DTH “bastion” in […]

Spacecom’s Amos 5, launched on December 11th 2011 by ILS from Baikonur, was commercialised on January 25th.  Some C-band clients have recently been relocating from Spacecom’s temporary leased capacity (the former AsiaSat-2) to the new satellite at 17 deg East. However, there are also further considerable expansion plans afoot with rumours that a new satellite […]

It is ironic that the frontline in the net neutrality conflict has shifted to a country where broadband speed is more abundant than anywhere on earth. KT Telecom of Korea has announced it will ‘manage’ the broadband capacity it claims is being soaked up by Smart TV users. It says it must do so to […]

Millionaire Elon Musk, who is backing a new lower-cost satellite launching rocket system, is planning a third IPO to raise extra cash for the venture. Musk is also financing the development of the all-electric Tesla car, which was Musk’s first IPO. His second IPO is imminent and covers his SolarCity project in California. South African-born […]

Back in November, Norbert Holzle was departing from SES as the satellite operator’s SVP/commercial for Europe. Now, seemingly, it is all change and Holzle is to stay on.   This means that Ferenc Szelényi, only officially appointed on November 30th, is to step aside and leave the company to “pursue other business opportunities”.   An […]