High Altitude Platform Services – or stratospheric balloons – are a key part of Google’s broadband-to-the-planet policy. Earlier this year a group of telecoms, aviation and technology companies, including Japan’s SoftBank and Alphabet Loon (the Google spin-off business looking after its balloon strategy) formed the HAPS Alliance. The concept is simple: Float a series of […]
Maxar Technologies, announcing its Q1 results, says it has received a “multi-hundred million dollar contract award to build multiple satellites”. Maxar would not divulge the client but it is widely believed that this is the order for – some if not all – of the replacement C-band craft which will follow on from the FCC […]
Widespread reports last week suggested that Elon Musk’s SpaceX had conducted an examination of OneWeb’s assets, which is currently in Chapter 11 bankruptcy liquidation. Musk, in a Tweet, has denied those reports, saying: “Not SpaceX” SpaceX’s apparent lack of interest still leaves a group of powerful players with interest in the OneWeb assets including Amazon, […]
SES CEO Steve Collar delivered a confident report to analysts at its Q1/2020 results on May 7th, and there was much focus from analysts on whether the FCC’s proposed C-band scheme would go ahead should there be any form of Chapter 11 filing by Intelsat. D-day, as far as the FCC auction of C-band spectrum, […]
Whilst all the details aren’t yet known, there are serious names who have entered bids for some or all of OneWeb’s assets. By the May 4th deadline, at least six proposals had been received by either Millbank LLP or Guggenheim Securities, who are acting on behalf of the operation. While not yet being specific about […]
The headline news from the latest SES results is that its ‘Networks’ business now represents more than 40 per cent of its business overall, and that the division has enjoyed a 29 per cent growth year-on-year. SES is contemplating spinning off the division into a separate business. Steve Collar, CEO, says that the satellite operator […]
Eutelsat Communications has secured a multi-year contract with Telenor Maritime to provide Ku coverage on a regional basis for sailing areas in Europe, Trans-Atlantic crossings, the Caribbean and South East Asia. Eutelsat will leverage several of its satellites in order to deliver targeted capacity with guaranteed levels of throughput to specific sailing areas under a […]
Intelsat’s shares had a torrid time May 5th with a 12.4 per cent fall in value at one point to just $1.10. It isn’t the lowest that Intelsat shares have traded recently ($1.04 on April 15th) but it highlights the anxiety the market has for the company’s future prospects. One shareholder (Cyrus Capital Partners) is […]
Elon Musk might be generating challenging headlines for his Tesla car division, but his Starlink broadband-by-satellite system is now growing rapidly. May 7th, weather permitting, will see another 60 Starlink satellites launched into orbit and taking the overall total to some 480 craft orbiting. This will be the 7th batch of satellites to be launched […]
Jeff Bezos’s Amazon is studying UK-headquartered satellite business OneWeb which is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the US. The Sunday Telegraph reported that Bezos, who has his own Project Kuiper mega-constellation of satellites in the planning and development stage, had his lawyers inspecting OneWeb’s assets. Other due-diligence examinations of OneWeb’s financials include Elon Musk’s […]