The Dynamic Spectrum Alliance (DSA) has announced that ViaSat, a global broadband services and technology company, has become its newest member and the first broadband satellite service provider to join the Alliance. “ViaSat joining the DSA is a significant moment in the history of the Alliance,” said Kalpak Gude, president of the Dynamic Spectrum Alliance. […]
Elon Musk’s SpaceX rocket company has told a powerful Senate hearing in Washington DC on May 3rd that it intends having its super-constellation of orbiting satellites operating and supplying initial high-speed broadband within two years. SpaceX is planning a massive fleet of 4425 satellites to girdle the planet. SpaceX’s VP/government affairs, Patricia Cooper, told senators […]
SES is beginning to reap the rewards of extra capacity being utilised, and in reporting its Q1 numbers, says it has seen “substantial” growth in its contracted backlog (from €7.6 billion y-o-y to €7.8 billion). Net profit attributable to SES shareholders of €128.4 million (Q1 2016: €115.1 million) represented an increase of 11.5 per cent over the […]
Elon Musk’s SpaceX rocket company, which also has plans afoot to build and launch its own ‘super-constellation of more than 7500 V-band satellites, is objecting to Jersey-based OneWeb and its potential financial partner SoftBank of Japan with their plans for its 648-satellite constellation. SpaceX’s complaint is that the OneWeb/SoftBank financial structure is far from clear. […]
The European spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, is getting back to work. The industrial action which had caused a near-complete month-long closedown of the region ended on April 21 when the French government and strike leaders signed an ‘Accord de Guyane’ agreement. Officials at the spaceport, and from where Arianespace launch their rockets and satellites, […]
Apple has reportedly hired a pair of highly experienced satellite experts. Bloomberg Business News says the pair are John Fenwick, who led Google’s spacecraft operations, and Michael Trela, who headed up satellite engineering at Google. The two now report to Greg Duffy, co-founder of the camera company Dropcam, another former Googler, according to the Bloomberg […]
Global satellite operator Intelsat’s planned merger with Jersey-based OneWeb has suffered its first hiccup. Intelsat’s bondholders are not signing up to the proposed financial restructuring engineered by Japan’s media giant SoftBank and Intelsat has had to extend the acceptance period from its April 20th deadline to May 10th. To date, barely 1 per cent of […]
Intelsat is reportedly extending the timetable deadline for bondholders to accept the proposals of a proposed merger with giant satellite constellation OneWeb. Reuters reports that the merger – announced back in February – is conditional on gaining approval from at least 85 per cent of the face value held by Intelsat’s bondholders. The report suggest […]
There are no signs of strikers in French Guiana calling off their protests and allowing rocket company Arianespace resuming their launch activity. The strike is now in its 4th week. The strikers have brought the country to a near-standstill with roadblocks throughout the region. Their complaints centre on low wages, extremely high unemployment rates and […]
The past year or two have not been the best of times for satellite operators. In some markets, there has been over-capacity which has led – in some cases – to heavy discounting. In other sectors, it has been government (i.e. military) spending which has been trimmed. One firm of analysts, Northern Sky Research (NSR) […]