New Zealand’s Commerce Commission has hit local telco One NZ (the former Vodafone NZ) with criminal charges alleging false representations of its Starlink Direct-To-Cell service, and breaching the country’s Fair Trade Act. One NZ had seemingly jumped the gun with its Starlink publicity and marketing campaign and talked about 100 percent national coverage but failed […]
Rivada Spec Networks, already suffering much negative press about missed financial deadlines, is now reported to have lost 12 dedicated launch slots on SpaceX. It is not said whether Rivada has paid ‘deposits’ on the launches when the contracts were signed. If deposits were paid then it is said that they will have been forfeited. […]
An update from AST SpaceMobile (AST) on November 14th supplied many hard facts as to the satellite operator’s plans. New satellite launches, added to the five already in orbit, will potentially eliminate the planet’s ‘dead spots’ for cellular users. Subsequently, a major bank report has endorsed AST’s prospects as the world’s first global cellular network. […]
Liechtenstein, which has licensed the transmission frequencies for Rivada Space Networks, has cancelled its authorisation. It says Rivada hasn’t paid the annual fee, and moreover has not supplied a credible business plan. Two days previously Rivada had announced it had secured “expansion bandwidth” from Germany, but failed to say that it had lost its priority […]
AST SpaceMobile (AST) has contracted with Jeff Bezos-backed rocket company Blue Origin, as well as SpaceX, to get its satellites into orbit. Blue Origin will handle up to 45 satellites with options for a further 15. Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket can handle 8 satellites per launch. SpaceX, which with its Starlink broadband system, is […]
The world already has a pair of successful low Earth orbiting (LEO) mega-constellations in the form of SpaceX’s Starlink and the Eutelsat/OneWeb fleet. Also on the near-horizon is the Jeff Bezos-backed Amazon Kuiper, Telesat of Canada’s Lightspeed, and direct-to-cellular satellite operations from Globalstar/Apple, AST SpaceMobile Iridium and Lynk. Now it seems the United Arab Emirates […]
Rivada Space Networks, despite not having a single satellite in orbit, says it has expanded its market access to 18 countries, and has added new spectrum to its portfolio. Rivada says it has in the last year secured market access for its Outernet highly-secure constellation in 18 countries and on every continent. These countries include […]
Boeing has finished construction of the seventh and eighth O3b mPOWER satellites for SES. These satellites, featuring Boeing’s advanced software-defined communications payload, are being transported to Cape Canaveral for a planned launch in December. The O3b mPOWER satellites feature Boeing’s software-driven integrated payload array technology, providing adaptable connectivity and high-frequency re-use, a metric used to […]
Eutelsat Group has announced a new multi-year agreement with Q-KON, a satellite solutions and services provider, to expand Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite services across Sub-Saharan Africa. The agreement will further accelerate the delivery of high-speed, low-latency connectivity to specialised and underserved businesses and communities, particularly in Southern Africa. The expanded agreement with Q-KON builds […]
SpaceX’s giant 400 ft tall Starship will make a sixth test flight on November 19th, subject to the usual weather and last-minute technical checks. The fifth flight saw the ‘super heavy’ booster stage captured by a pair of ‘chopsticks’ upon its return to Earth at Elon Musk’s Starbase. The next Starship flight test aims to […]