Advanced Television

Low Earth Orbit

Starlink equips MSC Cruise fleet

Swiss-owned MSC Cruises has completed equipping two-thirds of its fleet with Starlink onboard terminals. MSC says the whole fleet will be equipped with Starlink by May this year. The low earth orbit solution is currently providing faster internet speeds, improved wi-fi in cabins and public spaces, reduced latency levels and lower operational costs for 15 […]

March 4, 2024By Chris Forrester

SES: Owning a LEO system could be next

For the best part of 20 years, under the tenure of successive CEO’s Romain Bausch, Karim Michel Sabbagh and Steve Collar, the accepted mantra was that SES did not need a Low Earth orbiting (LEO) fleet of satellites. That position might now be very different under new CEO Adel Al-Salah who has been in post […]

March 1, 2024

Farrar: “Small LEO players must consolidate”

Most observers in the industry agree that there are far too many smaller would-be low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite operators chasing broadband delivery and the ‘holy grail’ of direct-to-smartphone business. One consultant, Dr Tim Farrar (of TMF Associates) is blunt in saying “It’s quite plausible that rationality won’t return until the industry is in a […]

February 20, 2024By Chris Forrester

Forbes: “2024 the year of LEO”

Forbes has declared that 2024 will be the ‘Year of Low Earth Orbit satellite services’ and expects the likes of Elon Musk’s Starlink to make significant inroads but with competition from other players. That competition could make the LEO segment a “crowded place”. February will see Mobile World Congress take place in Barcelona where satellite-based […]

January 30, 2024By Chris Forrester

Telesat ramps up Lightspeed production

Ottawa-based satellite operator Telesat says it is ramping up its investment in its Lightspeed low Earth orbiting fleet and helped by C$2 billion (€1.3bn) of funds coming from Canadian government and provincial sources. Lightspeed, an initial 156-craft fleet and which could be extended by an extra 100 craft, is costed at C$3.5 billion. Telesat says […]

November 10, 2023By Chris Forrester

Lynk satellite D2D for Solomon Islands

Washington, DC-based satellite operator, Lynk Global, has started what it describes as an “initial” direct-to-device service in the Solomon Islands. The service is in partnership with bmobile, which serves the Islands with a population of about 70,000. The first service will be for SMS and Text messages. bmobile subscribers can use their existing mobile phones […]

November 9, 2023By Chris Forrester

EnSilica to supply SatCom ICs to VITES

EnSilica, a turnkey supplier of mixed signal ASICs and SoCs, has announced it is to supply VITES with a new beamformer chip for satellite user terminals. VITES will use the chip at the heart of its new ViSAT-Ka-band terminal. EnSilica’s beam-forming chip is optimised to enable VITES’s creation of ground-based flat panel user terminals for […]

October 30, 2023

FAA concerned over SpaceX space debris

The FAA last week issued a report to the US Congress expressing concern over how the growing number of satellite constellations will dispose of their failed craft and what the FAA says are the risks to human life and property. The report says: “The dramatic rise of non-geostationary satellites, particularly those in low Earth orbit […]

October 11, 2023By Chris Forrester

Blue Origin to exit Orbital Reef space station

Orbital Reef is – or was designed to be – a privately-funded space station. Blue Origin, the Jeff Bezos-backed rocket business and Sierra Nevada Space are likely to end the corporate partnership they formed to help fund the space station. The concept was for an orbiting ‘business park in space’ and operating in low Earth […]

October 6, 2023

Globalstar picks SpaceX for launches

Globalstar, in an SEC regulatory filing, says it has placed a launch order with SpaceX to start replacing its low Earth orbiting satellites beginning in 2025. But placing the contract with SpaceX means that it is using SpaceX to try and gain a speedy commercial advantage for satellite-to-device connectivity. SpaceX is already working with operators […]

September 6, 2023By Chris Forrester