OneWeb, which wants to populate the planet with an initial 600 broadband satellites, will launch its first batch of 6 satellites on February 26th. The slippage of just a few days from the original February 19th plan was explained by founder Greg Wyler, saying: “This is new territory launching so many autonomous spacecraft, and they […]
Ottawa-based satellite operator Telesat is intent on building a constellation of (overall) 292 Low Earth orbiting satellites. Telesat already has US FCC approval to build and launch 117 of them using Ka-band, and another 117 using V-band. It now seems that three key bidders for a contract reportedly valued at some $3 billion are considering […]
Tim Farrar of TFA, a leading satellite industry consultant, has shared an idea to help solve the C-Band Alliance’s (CBA) process to free up 200 MHz of their C-band satellite capacity over the USA to help 5G adoption. Farrar said it was “truly ironic” to see objections to the CBA’s scheme from Google linked with […]
Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which plans to girdle the planet with at least 4425 broadband-delivering ‘Starlink’ satellites in a mega-constellation, has now followed up by asking the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for blanket approval for up to 1 million Earth stations to receive and transmit signals. The filing stresses that granting the application is in the […]
Broadband-by-satellite provider ViaSat (of California) turned in some impressive Q3 numbers on February 7th, with CEO Mark Dankberg saying that a new satellite in the company’s ViaSat-3 model had been ordered from Boeing, and would likely launch in early 2021. Dankberg explained that the progress on the first two ViaSat-3 satellites, “and now having executed […]
The C-band Alliance (CBA) of Intelsat, SES, Eutelsat and Telesat has written to the FCC stating that several recent submissions to the FCC are wrong in their contentions that a potential “market-based approach” (where the CBA sells off its C-band spectrum itself) violates the USA’s Communications Act and is “inconsistent with precedent”. Most objectors, including […]
Last June hedge fund Kerrisdale Capital solidly backed Intelsat and SES over the C-Band Alliance’s likely significant gains from the sale of their C-Band spectrum over the US. In January it emerged that Kerrisdale had largely cashed in on its profits from its stake in Intelsat selling 7.79 million of its 8.48 million shares, and […]
The C-Band Alliance (CBA), which is trying to restructure 200 MHz of satellite spectrum over the US, is facing additional negative pressures, including Google, cable operator Charter Communications and a few other lobby groups including the American Cable Association (ACA). Potentially, the ACA’s objection could have merit in that its members are drawn from the […]
On the one hand, the proposed OneWeb mega-constellation of 648 satellites is making considerable progress. Founder Greg Wyler tweeted that two of the company’s six initial craft are now in place on the launch rocket’s automatic dispenser. However, last week it was reported that a “microhole” problem was discovered on part of the Russian rocket. […]
Ottawa-based satellite operator Telesat has struck a partnership agreement with Google’s Alphabet business and in particular its ‘Loon’ division. The Loon project sees a fleet of high altitude balloons providing satellite-type links to and from the ground. Telesat clearly sees the relationship with Loon as helping in its expansion plans. The full statement from Telesat […]