SpaceX’s Starlink broadband system is testing its direct-to-cellular (D2C) satellite phone system in Romania, designed to show that Starlink satellites can operate at up to eight times the capacity currently allowed by the ITU’s EPFD (Equivalent Power Flux Density) limits, while still protecting geostationary satellites. Starlink’s D2C proposals are highly controversial, and many terrestrial cellular […]

Seven European cellular operators have issued negative comments on SpaceX’s plans to use its Starlink broadband satellites to provide ‘Direct-to-Cellular’ (D2C) services to consumers. Seven companies – including Vodafone, Liberty Global, Orange, PPF Telecom, Telefonica, Telenor and United Group – have told the FCC they’ll sue if the Commission loosens its rules for SpaceX’s cellular […]

Rivada Space Networks is insisting that despite some negative media stories, it remains firmly on track to meet its build and launch obligations for its 300 satellite mega-constellation. Brian Carney, Rivada’s SVP/Communications, commented: “We are confident that we will be able to finance our satellite production and meet our regulatory milestones. Since the takeover [of […]

It should not be forgotten in the acres of business news coverage over the DirecTV (and TPG) acquisition of DISH Network that in selling DISH, chairman Charlie Ergen is very much giving up his ‘baby’. When his EchoStar 1 satellite was launched on a Chinese Long March rocket in 1995 Ergen was in the launch […]

Rivada Space Networks, the would-be constellation operator of 288 yet-to-be-built satellites, is in deep trouble. Rivada’s litany of problems continues to mount. Not only is it late in stumping up the small matter of $2.4 billion (€2.1bn) needed to build its ‘OuterNet’ constellation, Rivada now faces another major hurdle from its licensing authority, the tiny […]

SES says it will pay shareholders its 25c dividend later in October. The news coincided with a report from investment bank BNP/Paribas and while it does not reveal a great deal of ‘new’ news, it has some very interesting extra elements. The report, from the bank’s Sami Kassab, notes that SES recently won a large […]

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, […]

Sir Richard Branson’s space tourism business, Virgin Galactic, suffered a bank’s serious downgrade to its share price. Morgan Stanley had given Virgin Galactic a share price target of $35. That price has been slashed to just $5 in the bank’s latest report issued on September 24th. The bank was blunt and cited ongoing challenges for […]

AI: Artificial Intelligence, it may as well have been the sub head of the recent IBC. Was there an exhibitor or a product that didn’t have an AI tale to spin? We have been here before, the years when AR, VR or 3D were the letter pairs de jour. But AI is different, it isn’t […]

EchoStar, the Charlie Ergen-backed business that owns the Dish US pay-TV operator, says that negotiations which have taken place over the past weeks with certain debt-holders and which would have led to a financial reconstruction have failed to reach agreement. The negotiations were primarily with members of a group represented by Milbank. Despite this setback, […]