At the end of February a ‘Space Tug’ built by Northrop Grumman successfully locked onto an Intelsat satellite that was close to running out of fuel. The ‘Mission Extension Vehicle, MEV-1, mated with Intelsat’s IS-901 while the pair were orbiting a couple of hundred miles above the usual geostationary orbital arc. IS-901 had been in […]
Covid-19 will lead to a significant decline in telecoms revenue. Revenue for telecoms operators will fall by 3.4 per cent in 2020 compared to 2019, before returning to growth (0.8 per cent) in 2021, according to an impact assessment report published by Analysys Mason. Analysys Mason had previously forecast growth of 0.7 per cent in […]
Intelsat has yet to formally apply for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and undoubtedly its situation is precarious and thus highly fluid although a bankruptcy restructuring is now widely expected given that it has declined to make interim interest payments on a 2024-due bond and has used a permitted 30-day delay in making the payment. Intelsat is […]
Euskaltel continues to increase its home entertainment offering, and is now adding Replayteka to its on-demand video catalogue, with 100 new films free of charge, thanks to the agreement reached with em>A Contracorriente Films, the leading film distribution company in Spain. The cinema special, A Contracorriente Film Edition, will be added automatically to Euskaltel’s TV […]
OneWeb might be in Chapter 11 bankruptcy (under ‘debtor in possession’ rules) but its major backer, Japan’s SoftBank says that in addition to a $75 million fresh loan to the company it might extend that by another $225 million. The maximum of $300 million will help keep OneWeb alive while it seeks to sell itself […]
Elon Musk’s SpaceX is delaying the planned April 16th launch of 60 Starlink Low Earth Orbit satellites. While not confirmed, most observers expect the launch to now take place no later than next week. The extra satellites would have taken the number in orbit to more than 400. SpaceX is known to be also planning […]
Two pending Federal Communications Commission (FCC) WiFi proposals would add at least $183.44 billion (€167.24bn) to the US economy over the next five years, according to the findings of a study on the FCC’s proposals to open the 5.9 GHz band and 6 GHz band to WiFi, prepared for WifiForward – an ad hoc, broad-based […]
There was a telling comment made following OneWeb’s Chapter 11 announcement, and it concerns the all-important cost of user terminals. While rockets were being sent up by OneWeb and still are by SpaceX (a Starlink flight was scheduled for April 16th but is now delayed). But Samer Halawi, now EVP/CCO at Intelsat and who worked […]
Spacecom , operator of the AMOS satellite fleet, has announced that the company signed a multi-year contract with GiTy, a telecom service provider based in the Czech Republic, for C-band capacity on the AMOS-17 communication satellite, in order to deliver connectivity to embassies across Africa. Radek Ondras, Network Operations Director at GiTy, commented: “AMOS-17’s position […]
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) says it is “holding firm” on its plans to auction 280 MHz of C-band spectrum over the US in “mid-December”. The comment emerged in a letter sent by FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly to President Donald Trump on April 8th. Commissioner O’Rielly praised the president for his support the drive to […]