VSAT
Speedcast files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
Speedcast International, a network services provider leasing capacity on more than 80 satellites, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection April 23, citing weakness in the cruise and oil markets.
Inmarsat preps new maritime product to fend off KVH competition
Rupert Pearce, Inmarsat’s CEO, said Nov. 8 that the company is taking steps to retain customers in its largest market segment, having identified broadband for social use among crews as the missing component of Inmarsat’s maritime service offering.
Satellite antenna companies divided on near-term feasibility of cheap flat panels
Builders of satellite antennas disagree on whether flat panel antennas — widely considered a necessity for planned broadband megaconstellations — can be produced cheaply enough to address the mass consumer market in the near term.
Gilat courts mobile telcos with self-funded satellite networks
Satellite hardware and network builder Gilat of Israel, seeking to interest cellular operators in expanding their reach by satellite, is pressing forward with a strategy of building the entire network for them in exchange for multi-year commitments to pay for the service.
Telenor Satellite eyes even split between broadcast, connectivity businesses
Morten Tengs, Telenor Satellite’s CEO, says direct-to-home (DTH) broadcasting is still the largest revenue generator for the operator, but Thor-7 now has “a substantial maritime datacom business,” as well as some land-based customers in the Middle East.
VSAT operators angry with satellite operators poaching their customers
Network service providers are fed up with satellite operators going around them to sell capacity straight to their customers.
Google says a third of C-band dishes registered with the FCC aren’t used
Earth-observation data shows that one in three C-band satellite dishes registered with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission either don’t exist or aren’t in use, a spectrum official at Google said last week.
