Chris Forrester is one of the most experienced and highly regarded journalists in the field. His insight and analysis, particularly in the satellite and pay-TV arena, is highly prized. He has written for all the major business journals in the sector as well as several national newspapers.
On March 21st satellite operator SES announced it was buying governmental solutions business DRS Global Enterprise Solutions (GES), a US subsidiary of Italian Leonardo DRS. The $450 million (€408.8m) move has been analysed by investment bank Exane/BNPP which believes there is a “strong strategic rationale” behind the acquisition. Leonardo Chief Executive Alessandro Profumo said the […]
Rwanda has, the landlocked republic lying south of the Equator in east-central Africa plans – and has official filings lodged – to launch more than 100,000 small satellites for broadband connectivity. The country’s project, named E-Space, used the Washington Satellite 2022 event to say that it had contracted with Rocket Lab and its Electron rocket […]
The long-running legal dispute between SES and Intelsat over the 50/50 division of payments from the FCC and its ‘incentive’ payments for the C-band spectrum and re-allocation for 5G now has an end in sight. The new date is April 19th and the Virginia bankruptcy court, under Judge Keith Phillips, will hear both sides and […]
SES has told investment analysts that its exposure to Russian or Ukrainian revenues is extremely limited. But it says that the conflict has increased demand for governments for military grade X-band communications has increased in the past couple of weeks. The X-band usage is centred through its Govsat-1 capacity which is part of its SES-16 […]
MFE-MediaForEurope, the Berlusconi-backed broadcaster, has announced a bid for the 44 per cent of Mediaset Spain that it does not own. The bid has an implied price per share of €5.60. MFE is offering cash of €1.86 per Mediaset Spain share, plus 4.5 MFE A shares per MSE share held. The implied value, at close […]
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 […]
UK-headquartered OneWeb is, with Arianespace, seeking a new satellite launch provider following Russia’s refusal to honour its contract to send around another 200 satellites into orbit. OneWeb has 428 craft already in orbit but needs a total of 600 to fulfil its target services, plus another 30-50 standing by as back-ups in case of individual […]
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, […]
A report from investment analysts at Berenberg Bank looks at the sectorial impact, and in particular on media, and says that while there are some broadcasters have business interests in Russia, but their exposure (to specific losses) are modest. The bank says its own portfolio coverage has very limited exposure to Russia and Ukraine, noting: […]
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