WBMSAT Satellite Industry News Bits for 07/23/2010
Courtesy of Bill McDonald…
Telecommunications Systems is issued U.S. patent on secure satellite communications over satellite phone network.
[Market Watch – 07/25/2010]
Orbital Sciences is hurt by failure of Galaxy 15 and NASA Orion cancellation, even as it reports 25 percent increase in second quarter revenues over 2009.
[Satellite Today – 07/23/2010]
BFI changes name to Encompass Digital Media, uniting BFI’s Andrita Media Center and Crawford Communications, acquired by BFI in January.
[Satellite Today – 07/23/2010]
Hiltron Communcations wins contract from German broadcast integrator Wellen & Noethen to provide satellite receive system as part of a large IPTV head-end installation.
[Satellite Today – 07/23/2010]
Telenor revenues increase 6.1% in second quarter, driven by HDTV growth.
[Satellite today – 07/23/1020]
Astrium creates subsidiary Spot Infoterra Hellas to provide geo-information products and services in Greece.
[Satellite Today – 07/23/2010]
U.S. Army selects ViaSat as winner of Blue Force Tracking 2 program contract, awarding it a $477M contract.
[Satellite Today – 07/22/2010]
Boeing discovers technical glitch that delays launch of SkyTerra-1 launch for newly named LightSquared.
[Satellite Today – 07/22/2010]
Italian satellite broadcaster Sky Italia receives permission from European Commision to bid on digital free-to-air (FTA) frequencies in Italy.
[Satellite Today – 07/22/2010]
Hughes is contracted by natural gas company Black Elk Energy to provide maritime broadband solution.
[Satellite Today – 07/22/2010]
Fox seeks second digital satellite broadcast license in Japan, to use for National Geographic channel.
[Hollywood Reporter – 07/22/2010]
Surrey Satellite Technolgy starts building small satellite for Republic of Kazakhstan.
[Satellite Today – 07/22/2010]
Boeing is hired by Iridium as the exclusive operations and maintenance provider for its next-generation satellite constellation, continue to operate its current satellite network, and oversee the transition from one to the next.
[Business Journals – 07/22/2010]
Astrium is selected by the Science and Technology Facilities Council to develop an Earth Observation Hub at the new International Space Innovation Center in Harwell, Oxfordshire, U.K.
[SatNews – 07/22/2010]
Globecomm Systems subsidiary Cachendo secures one-year contract to provide IT support services to the U.S. Agency for International Development.
[CBR Online – 07/22/2010]
Arabsat-5A and BADR-5 satellites are handed over to Arabsat by Astrium and Thales Alenia Space as part of in-orbit delivery contract, and enter commercial service.
[SatNews – 07/22/2010]
Coming to DirecTV after 20 years at PepsiCo, new Chief Executive learns satellite TV business from the top down while facing challenges of the internet and a possible Comcast-NBC Universal merger.
[LA Times – 07/22/2010]
VIH Helicopters, formerly Vancouver Island Helicopters, will equip its diverse fleet of Sikorsky, Kamov, Eurocopter, and Bell helicopters with SkyTrac’s next generation ISAT-200 system.
[SatNews – 07/22/2010]
FCC changes definition of broadband Internet to 4 Mbps download speed and 1 Mbps upload speed, meaning roughly 24 million people do not have access to traditional broadband Internet – but some 7 million of those are within range of satellite networks.
[i4u – 07/22/2010]
SES ASTRA signs agreement with Hungarian IT services provider RG Networks to market its satellite-based broadband service ASTRA2Connect to business and private customers in Hungary.
[SatNews – 07/22/2010]
LightSquared, the former SkyTerra, signs 7-year, $1.2B deal with Nokia Siemens to build, operate, and maintain a 4G LTE network using combinaton satellite and cell phone network to provide data services.
[IB Times – 07/21/2010]
German manufacturer OHB Technology acquired Thales Alenia Space Antwerp in Belgium from Thales Alenia Space France.
[Satellite Today – 07/21/2010]
OnAir to install SwiftBroadband service on Emirates’ entire A380 aircraft fleet.
[Satellite Today – 07/21/2010]
Cisco’s IRIS space-router technology passes U.S. Department of Defense satellite-orbit test for use of next-generation satellite based IP services and communications from space.
[Satellite Today – 07/21/2010]
Harris is awarded $130M contract to provide ground antenna system for National oceanic and Atmospheric Administration program that will enable receipt and processing of weather data 40 times faster than today.
[Pr Newswire – 07/20/2010]
BT is upgrading its EMEA satellite network infrastructure to iDirect’s Evolution platform, allowing more efficient operations of its satellite network for finance, oil and gas, and government customers.
[PR Newswire – 07/20/2010]
Globalstar is encouraged by FCC proceedings to make wireless spectrum available for mobile broadband networks using mobile satellite services spectrum.
[Market Watch – 07/19/2010]
