Advanced Television

Satellite

Intelsat: “Airlines moving towards free WiFi”

Most leading airlines are now offering, or plan to offer, WiFi and broadband connectivity onto their aircraft. Intelsat, along with the world’s other major satellite operators, are already benefitting from supplying bandwidth to the likes of Gogo, Panasonic Aviation, Thales’ InFlyt, Global Eagle and others. Intelsat’s CEO Steve Spengler specifically addressed the demand for aircraft […]

October 30, 2019By Chris Forrester

C-Band Alliance: Now it’s 300 MHz

The C-Band Alliance (CBA) has moved decisively towards the FCC preferred release of 300 MHz of spectrum over the US. The CBA had previously insisted that it could only manage to clear 200 MHz (180 MHz + a 20 MHz ‘guard band’). The spectrum is being cleared to help the deployment of 5G cellular technology […]

October 29, 2019By Chris Forrester

Musk “years ahead” of Bezos in satellite race

There are almost a dozen rivals looking to capitalise on satellite-to-broadband services including existing players Viasat, O3b, Eutelsat Konnect, Charlie Ergen’s Hughes/Echostar. Two extremely aggressive new players are Elon Musk’s Starlink system (a subsidiary of his SpaceX business), and Jeff Bezos’s Project Kuiper. Other players include O3b, OneWeb and Canadian Telesat. Musk’s president & COO […]

October 29, 2019By Chris Forrester

Gogo tops 1000 Avance systems in flight

In-flight communications specialists Gogo now has more than 1000 of its Avance systems installed, almost totally in business and executive jet aircraft. The company says the systems have flown more than 108 million miles (in 175,000 flights). “When we launched the AVANCE L5, we knew it would delight our customers, but it’s surpassed all our […]

October 29, 2019By Chris Forrester

Eutelsat expands Gogo connectivity

Eutelsat has extended its capacity agreement with in-flight entertainment company Gogo. As part of the new multi-year agreement, Gogo has leased HTS bandwidth on Eutelsat 10B satellite, to be leveraged over Europe and the Middle East. The new satellite is set to launch in 2022. “We are advancing capacity capabilities given the growing demand for […]

October 29, 2019By Chris Forrester

SES “very focussed” on CBA plans

Barely a year ago the family of C-Band Alliance members (Intelsat, SES, Telesat, Eutelsat) were firm and repeatedly stated that they were prepared only to free up (in other words, sell) 180 MHz of their US spectrum for use by 5G players. Now, across the board, they seem enthusiastic about freeing up 300 MHz of […]

October 28, 2019By Chris Forrester

Eutelsat launches IoT connectivity service via satellite

Eutelsat Communications has announced the launch of what is describes as “a pioneering satellite-based IoT connectivity service”: Eutelsat IoT FIRST. Having recently unveiled its ELO constellation of nanosatellites in Low Earth Orbit, dedicated to the Internet of Things, Eutelsat has taken further steps towards its ambition to become a leading satellite IoT company through the […]

October 28, 2019

FCC: ‘C-band decision very soon’

The FCC is still on track for a decision on C-band spectrum this autumn, FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly said at Mobile World Congress Americas in Los Angeles on October 23rd. He spoke of various initiatives to free up extra spectrum for cellular use, including C-band, and stressed that the FCC has its eyes on 300 […]

October 25, 2019By Chris Forrester

Maxar, Thales-Alenia now rival bidders

Reportedly Maxar Technologies and Thales-Alenia Space have scrubbed their joint-venture plan to bid for Ottawa-based Telesat’s mega-constellation satellite order. The pair were competing against Airbus Defence & Space for the order.  Now they will bid separately for the order for a 300-satellite Low Earth orbiting constellation, said to be worth around $3 billion to the […]

October 25, 2019By Chris Forrester

Eutelsat enthusiastic over C-band 300 MHz plan

Eutelsat, in a formal filing to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), says that it is in favour of the C-Band Alliance – eventually – freeing up 300 MHz of spectrum over the US for 5G’s usage. Julie Burguburu, Eutelsat’s group general counsel, and Wladimir Bocquet, director of regulatory affairs, spectrum management and policy at Eutelsat, […]

October 23, 2019