It’s not been a good month for European satellite operators. Recent weeks have seen Paris-based Eutelsat suffer negative comments and a much-depressed share price. Now it is Luxembourg’s SES which is hurting. Ratings agency Moody’s cut its outlook on SES to “negative” (from “stable”) and that the operator’s long-term debt (rated Baa3) would be “under […]
Intelsat, the satellite and terrestrial network operator, has signed an expanded satellite services agreement with GCI, Alaska’s largest telecommunications company, that will soon deliver multi-orbit broadband services throughout the largest state in the US. “Four years ago, Intelsat and GCI entered into an agreement that dramatically increased the size and speed of GCI’s geostationary satellite […]
The rise of constellations, the boom in data exchanges, and the integration and digitisation of networks are reshaping ground segment activity. Innovation is driving a transformation of the ecosystem, with ongoing and expected transactions on both the demand and supply sides. Novaspace’s fifth edition of its Ground Segment Market Prospects report projects the competitive ground […]
The geostationary arc is suffering badly from the recent break-up of Intelsat’s I-33e. More than 500 individual pieces of debris have now been identified by specialists at ExoAnalytics. The researchers say the majority of the piece are “softball-sized or smaller” although there are pieces described as being of car-door size. ExoAnalytics managed to add identification […]
The problems caused by the loss of Intelsat’s i33e craft on October 19th, which has now been declared a total loss, has highlighted the problems with other dangerous space junk. A report from Quartz says that there are now about 3,000 dead satellites littered across space, and some 34,000 piece of large space junk and […]
The catastrophic failure of Intelsat’s I-33e satellites on October 19th is now known to have created a debris field of at least 40 different pieces. The craft is a total loss, says Intelsat and the company has asked the FCC for permission to use three nearby satellites (two owned by SES and the other by […]
Intelsat 33e, one of its ‘epicNG’ next-generation satellites, has suffered a catastrophic loss and is understood to have broken up. Initially, Intelsat said that the satellite had “lost power” and that it believed the satellite would not be recoverable. IS-33e was designed and manufactured by Boeing Space Systems. It was launched in August 2016 and […]
Intelsat CEO David Wajsgras confirms the logic behind the decision for SES to buy his business, saying that there had been a tailwind of talk about mergers and consolidation for years, and that the decision to come together was needed in order to be able to compete against the new players in space, not least […]
The FCC, on September 25th, issued permission for a rescue attempt on Intelsat’s ‘drifting’ Galaxy 25 satellites with a Mission Extension Vehicle (MEV/Space Tug) over the next few days. The FCC is keen on the whole exercise being seen as an experimental mission. In its permission, the FCC stated: “After an extended period of drifting, […]
Vodafone and Intelsat, the integrated satellite and terrestrial network operator, have extended their partnership to offer wider coverage of temporary and on-the-move satellite connectivity services to organisations operating in hard-to-reach areas or disaster zones. The expanded agreement will complement Vodafone’s terrestrial networks by providing enterprises with broadband connectivity in remote and underserved areas. This means businesses, […]