Advanced Television

Viasat

Inmarsat moves to profit

London-based Inmarsat, itself in the process of being acquired by Viasat of California, turned a 2020 loss of $182.9 million (€166.4m) into a profit for last year of $17.7 million. The profit might seem modest but coming out of the Covid pandemic with many of its core client connectivity services being badly hit, it is […]

March 29, 2022By Chris Forrester

Viasat: “Industry must expect more cyber attacks”

California-based Viasat’s chairman Mark Dankberg, speaking at the Washington Satellite 2022, told delegates that the satellite industry should expect more attempts to compromise networks. Viasat’s European KA-SAT was hit by a deliberate cyber-attack on February 24th. “There will be worse cyber attacks than that if we’re not really vigilant,” Dankberg warned. He said that Viasat […]

March 24, 2022By Chris Forrester

Monterosa raises £3.5m

Monterosa has raised £3.5m (€4.2m) of growth capital to accelerate development of its real-time engagement (RTE) platform and drive the company’s expansion into new global markets. The funding was led by 24Haymarket and included existing investor ACF Investors, plus a trio of new investors including Jeremy Darroch, former CEO and Executive Chair at Sky, Chris […]

March 22, 2022

FBI warns of further satellite cyber attacks

A report from the FBI and the USA’s Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency says more attempts similar to the recent hacking of Viasat’s KA-SAT communications satellite are likely. The report says that the current problems surrounding Russia means that satellite operators and service companies must examine their critical infrastructure and review and implement much stronger […]

March 21, 2022By Chris Forrester

ITU facing pandemic problems

The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) is facing some urgent requests to authorise delays for satellite operators and their launch plans. The reasons are mostly caused by the pandemic and the impact of staff shortages at assorted satellite builders and their suppliers of components. The ITU has to decide whether to approve some extreme delays from […]

March 18, 2022By Chris Forrester

Viasat asks for ITU launch extension

Pandemic-related issues, plus general supply side component difficulties, have severely delayed the launch of a Viasat satellite designed to operate over Europe and the MENA regions. Viasat-3/EMEA had been originally planned to launch on an early flight of an Ariane 6 rocket around the middle of 2022 and as part of a trio of Generation […]

March 16, 2022By Chris Forrester

Cyber warfare hits Viasat/KA-Sat

California-based satellite operator Viasat has been suffering from alleged electronic warfare emanating from Russia. Reports suggest that hackers have deliberately disrupted satellite signals to and from Ukraine and in particular using the (formerly Eutelsat-owned) KA-Sat. Reuters, for example, is reporting that the cyber attacks have affected about 10,000 terminals. The attacks started as long ago […]

March 16, 2022

Fitch: BBB for SES, B+ for Intelsat

SES has received a favourable review from Fitch Ratings for its borrowings. Fitch says that SES’s long-term debt is rated at ‘BBB’ and its subordinated borrowings are rated at ‘BB+’. Fitch highlights the options that SES will shortly have from the FCC’s next C-band incentive payments of some $3 billion. Sandeep Jalan, CFO at SES, […]

March 14, 2022

Viasat/Inmarsat deal at risk

Back in November 2021, California-based Viasat, a major broadband satellite operator, announced it had reached an agreement to acquire London-based Inmarsat. The deal was worth some $7.3 billion (£6.3bn) in a mix of cash, shares and assumption of Inmarsat’s debt. Now the acquisition is under threat according to reports. The problem is that small print […]

February 14, 2022By Chris Forrester

Viasat reports record revenue

California-based Viasat saw double digit organic revenue growth in Q3, reported Virgin Atlantic as a new in-flight connectivity (IFC) customer, and continued to expand its fixed broadband presence internationally. The operator is also in the midst of acquiring London-based Inmarsat. For Q3 FY2022 Viasat earned record revenue of $720 million (€627.9m), a 25 per cent […]

February 4, 2022By Chris Forrester