Elon Musk’s plans to start Starlink broadband services in South Africa are currently stymied. But he is reportedly planning an ambitious work-around with a 2 billion Rand (€96m) overall investment in the Southern Africa region to get around local Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) regulations. South Africa’s Business Day reports that Musk will use the investment […]

UK comms regulator Ofcom has opened three separate consultations on its spectrum work, which relate to: changing satellite gateway fees; a proposed new non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) gateway licence for Amazon Kuiper; and introducing short notice, short duration licences in the lower 2.3 GHz band to support demand from the Shared Access and PMSE (programme making […]

Vodafone and AST SpaceMobile have a joint-venture covering AST’s planned ‘direct-to-consumer’ satellite-based cellular service. The pair have chosen Luxembourg as the new company’s headquarters. Mobile operators covering 21 EU member states and other European countries have already expressed an interest in using the service; commercial launches expected from 2026. The planned establishment of the new […]

There are more than a few ‘rivals’ to Starlink, but only Eutelsat’s OneWeb has a full fleet of satellites in orbit with which to challenge Elon Musk’s broadband satellite service. The other major potential rivals are Jeff Bezos-backed Amazon Project Kuiper and Canada’s Telesat and its Lightspeed fleet. But Kuiper has only just started launching […]

The 18th edition of Novaspace’s Earth Observation Satellite Systems report finds 5,770 EO satellites set to launch by 2034, fuelling a $182.6 billion (€155bn) market surge, as national defence priorities shape space strategy. As geopolitical instability drives interest in sovereign EO assets, defence and civil satellites are positioned to overtake commercial deployments . “A new […]

To help bridge the digital divide and provide emergency communications during disasters, Japanese investment company SoftBank Corp has been actively conducting research and development for its High Altitude Platform Station (HAPS) stratospheric telecommunications business since 2017 as a global pioneer in the field. In 2026, SoftBank plans to launch pre-commercial HAPS services in Japan in […]

Analysts at investment bank Berenberg have reinstated coverage of satellite operator SES in a timely fashion and assuming a successful acquisition of Intelsat. Berenberg says it expects SES to extend its competitive advantage once it closes its acquisition of Intelsat later this year. Berenberg also believes SES will benefit from a rapidly changing geopolitical landscape […]

Starlink is unlikely to gain permission to operate in South Africa any time soon, according to a local communications sector expert. Dominic Cull, a regulatory expert at communications sector legal advisory firm Ellipsis, said it will be at least two years before new regulations will be in place to allow for equity equivalents – and […]

Satellite operator trade body GSOA  has welcomed the European Commission’s publication of the proposed EU Space Act and the accompanying Vision for the European Space Economy, suggesting that the developments acknowledge the strategic relevance of space infrastructure and services for Europe’s economic resilience, technological sovereignty, competitiveness and digital future. The GSOA says that as the […]

AST SpaceMobile has received another boost from an investment bank. Bank of America has given a price target of $55. What’s somewhat remarkable is that the Bank has only included conventional commercial activity for its ‘Direct-to-Consumer’ space-based cellular service. The Bank has left out potential revenues from Defence or Government demands, both expected to figure […]