A Mozambique-based company, Starsat Africa, has reportedly been supplying Starlink equipment into South Africa. These ‘grey market’ cross-border supplies and active in South Africa have now been disconnected. The reason, says SpaceX, is for unauthorised reselling but might have more to do with not upsetting South Africa’s licensing authorities. Mozambique has licensed Starlink. The official […]

EU regulators may relax rules against mobile telecoms mergers and broaden telecoms rules to get Big Tech and others to help fund the rollout of 5G, according to a European Commission document reported by Reuters. National telcos have long lobbied EU antitrust regulators to loosen rules that clampdown on mergers that reduce the number of […]

5.5 million households in the UK will struggle to watch their favourite TV shows unless Traditional TV is protected to 2040 and beyond, campaigners are warning. The call comes as consultancy firm EY publishes new analysis on the feasibility of broadband networks serving as the only mechanism for universal TV services. Despite the Government’s 99 […]

Ligado Networks is suing certain US government Agencies and seeking $40 billion (€37.09bn) in compensation and alleging that the Agencies “roadblocked” Legado’s L-band frequencies and spectrum because the US government wanted the spectrum itself. A number of influential bodies have submitted support to the US Government in asking the Court of Federal Claims to dismiss […]

South Africa’s public broadcaster, SABC, is taking the country’s transmission operator Sentech to the Competition Tribunal, alleging excessive pricing and anti-competitive actions. Doris Tshepe, head of the country’s Competition Commission, told MPs that a commission-led effort to mediate between the parties had failed. The MPs on the country’s Committee on Communications & Digital Technologies heard […]

Currently SpaceX’s Starlink system dominates satellite-based broadband and the potential for ‘direct-to-device’ (MSS: Mobile Satellite Service) communications. However, Globalstar is rolling out its smaller constellation and has Apple helping finance its expansion. The initial problem is that both outfits use the same frequencies (as does Dish Network). SpaceX formally complained to the FCC on February […]

Intelsat’s Bankruptcy Court has agreed to hold a hearing into the SES claim for a larger share of the FCC’s C-band compensation payment. Judge Phillips will hold the hearing at his Richmond, Virginia court on April 24th. In essence, SES is asking for the hearing to resolve the dilemma of having ‘won’ an appeal against […]

In-Flight communications specialist Gogo Business Aviation has won an appeal held at the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and which upheld an earlier verdict at the US District Court in Delaware and which involved denying SmartSky Networks’ motion for preliminary injunction against Gogo Business Aviation to keep it from selling its Gogo […]

The long-running dispute between SES and Intelsat over how the FCC’s C-band payments have been allocated has prompted SES to ask Intelsat’s Bankruptcy Court to hold a hearing in April. The hearing, if granted, will be heard and mediated by Judge Mark Colombell in Virginia. “SES believes that a hearing would be beneficial to address […]

Universal Music is removing its catalogue of songs from social media platform TikTok when its contract expires today [January 31st] after a breakdown in talks over payments. The move would mean TikTok would no longer have access to tracks by artists including the likes of Taylor Swift, Adele, The Weeknd, Coldplay, BTS and Drake. In […]