The next battleground, according to expert speakers at the World Space Business Week in Paris, is the fight for Direct-to-Device connectivity from satellite. Starlink has more than 7 million customers, but has “little or no chance” to extend its service to voice services for at least two years, said Starlink president and COO Gwynne Shotwell. […]

Lynk Global, a satellite-to-cellular operator which has SES as a major shareholder, has asked the FCC for a 60-day temporary authority to operate feeder links in the S-Band as part of a South African trial of its technology, with an unnamed local mobile operator (probably MTN), aimed at testing direct-to-device (D2D) voice calling. The test […]

SES has announced that the French Navy’s aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle leveraged its secure and reliable O3b mPOWER satcom service – Managed Naval mPOWERED – during the Clemenceau 25 mission. This high-throughput, low-latency Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) connectivity solution supported all of the aircraft carrier’s operations, while facilitating collaboration with mission partners. During the […]

Luxembourg-based satellite operator, now the world’s biggest player in the sector, used the Novaspace Paris World Space Business Week to announce an expansion of its Mid-Earth orbiting fleet. Adel Al-Saleh, CEO, SES, told delegates that despite it only being 2 months since the integration with Intelsat, and considerable progress was being made in terms of […]

The Novaspace World Space Business Week kicked off in Paris but the news for video DTH confirms that the sector is in decline. Telesat’s CEO Dan Goldberg told delegates that people are watching more and more video, but it’s streaming and TikTok. “Unfortunately, they’re not watching so much satellite TV. It has been steady decline, […]

UK comms regulator Ofcom has opened a consultation on proposals to revise and improve the way it licenses non-geostationary satellite orbit (NGSO) systems. NGSO systems use satellites to provide services such as broadband to individuals, businesses, and other organisations, particularly in remote areas. Ofcom introduced the current process for licensing NGSO systems in 2021 with […]

EchoStar co-founder Charlie Ergen appeared at the Novaspace Paris World Space Business Week (WSBW) and, along with EchoStar CEO Hamid Akhavan, explained his strategy for delegates. “We are going to be an asset-light, growth company,” Akhavan told a press conference at WSBW. “That’s the forced pivot that we had to make by disposing of our […]

The Novaspace World Space Business Week event in Paris heard an expert panel talk about their Direct-to-Device (D2D) satellite plans. Scott Wisniewski, President of AST SpaceMobile, told delegates that the stage his D2D business was now at was to move to revenue generation using its partnerships with the likes of Vodafone, Verizon and AT&T. AST […]

Starlink, Amazon’s Project Kuiper, Eutelsat’s OneWeb and the SES/Jio plans for their satellite direct-to-consumer schemes might have an extra hurdle. Reports from India say that the government, which has been slow in issuing the necessary permits for these services to start, might now want to ‘cap’ or limit the number of subscribers they sign up. […]

Rocket Lab, the launch company founded by Sir Peter Beck and based mainly in New Zealand, has filed to raise $750 million (€636m) of fresh cash in the form of Common Stock. The move will dilute shareholder value by a modest 3 per cent but take the rocket-builder’s cash at hand to some $1.5 billion. […]