A massive SpaceX rocket is being prepared for its debut commercial flight on April 7th from Florida’s Cape Canaveral. The ‘Falcon Heavy’ rocket has 27 Merlin engines (a ‘normal’ Falcon has just 9) and this flight will carry Arabsat’s 6A satellite into orbit. The launch window, subject to weather conditions, opens at 6.36pm EST (22.36pm […]
Arianespace has confirmed that it will launch four additional O3b satellites on April 4th. The four extra craft had been expected to launch around the end of March, and will bring the SES-owned constellation of Ka-band O3b satellites to 20. The launch will be on a Russian Soyuz rocket – dubbed Flight VS22. The O3b […]
As part of its ambitions to see full-fibre broadband available nationwide over the coming years, UK comms regulator Ofcom has set out how regulation could evolve to support competition and further investment from new alternative networks, Openreach and Virgin Media. Ofcom’s goal is to encourage and enable significant, long-term investment in full-fibre broadband to give […]
A Parks Associates report finds that smart home solutions will increasingly rely on voice control, video and data analytics, sound recognition, and AI to simplify the user experience. Technology Convergence and the Smart Home reports US broadband households now own more than 10 connected devices, including a mix of connected CE, smart home, and connected […]
Virgin Media’s latest advert for its ‘Switch to Super’ campaign will air simultaneously across all five of ITV’s main channels on March 30th. The new advert, which features the portrayal of Usain Bolt as a superhero and is the first to focus on Virgin Media’s recently announced Intelligent WiFi service for its customers, will get […]
Russia’s TASS news agency says the country will cut the cost of launching its Proton-M rocket to match the level of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rockets. Roscosmos said it will cut costs by lowering expenses on ground-based preparations, Roscosmos Chief Dmitry Rogozin said on Monday. “Proton-M rockets are about at the level of Falcons by their […]
London-based speciality satellite operator Avanti Communications says that its latest satellite, Hylas 3 will not now launch until the third quarter this year and will be brought into commercial use by year-end. Avanti used the announcement to issue a trading update, which said that bandwidth revenues were only $32 million last year. Avanti is forecasting […]
Madrid-based Hispasat has won a contract from Mexican telecoms company Wibo to supply satellite broadband and an IP-based telephony service for Mexican consumers. Hispasat is using its Amazonas 5 satellite as the Ka-band service provider, as well as continuing with its existing Ku-band services from Amazons 3. The intention is to supply connectivity to rural […]
Virgin Media has been named fastest broadband provider in the UK for the seventh year in a row. Analysis from UK broadband comparison website Broadband Genie recorded an average download of 71.5Mb for Virgin Media customers – almost three times faster than its nearest challenger. Vodafone claimed top spot for uploading speed, recording an average […]
The C-Band Alliance (CBA) has confirmed the appointment of Peter Pitsch as Head of Advocacy and Government Affairs. The CBA is the entity that proposes to implement a safe and efficient clearing and repurposing of mid-band ‘C-band’ downlink spectrum to accelerate the deployment of 5G services in the US. The CBA was formed by Intelsat, […]