Tag Archives: Satellite Communications

Telesat announced on 2 April 2019 that PT iForte Solusi Infotek (iForte), a leading provider of USO (Universal Service Obligation) VSAT services in Indonesia, has signed major contracts for Ku-band HTS and C-band capacity on Telesat’s new Telstar 18 VANTAGE satellite.

TIM Brasil, a leading mobile operator with the largest 4G coverage in Brazil, and Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd., a worldwide leader in satellite networking technology, solutions and services, announced today that TIM Brasil selected Gilat’s satellite backhaul solution to enable 4G services to unserved areas, such as highways and small towns, as well as to the agribusiness IoT market.

A Rocket Lab Electron launch vehicle successfully lifted off from Launch Complex 1 on New Zealand’s Mahia Peninsula at 23:27, 28 March 2019 UTC (12:27, 29 March NZDT). The mission launched a prototype reflect array antenna to orbit for the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

The UAE's national airline Etihad Airways has successfully implemented the International Civil Aviation Organisation, ICAO, Global Aeronautical Distress and Safety System, GADSS, recommendations for flight tracking ahead of the General Civil Aviation Authority’s, GCAA’s, proposed deadline of 1 June 2019.

By Blaine Curcio and Tianyi Lan China’s recently-rising space industry has caught a huge number of headlines and generated much buzz, including several articles written for this column. For good reason, this has taken many headlines. But a different type of space-related industry has seen Chinese presence abroad for some time—that is, the satellite broadcast industry.

Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd (ST Engineering) announced on 27 March 2019 that its subsidiary Singapore Technologies Engineering (Europe) Ltd, has entered into a conditional share purchase agreement to acquire a 100% ownership in Newtec Group NV, an established Belgium-based company in the satellite communications industry.

OneWeb is the developer of a new global, high-speed, low latency satellite-based network designed to address the most demanding global connectivity challenges worldwide. Ariane 6 will be available to OneWeb from the second half of 2020 to provide launch capacity that supports the full deployment and replenishment of the OneWeb constellation.

Argos is the only global satellite-based data collection and location system of its kind dedicated to studying and preserving the environment. Created in 1978 on the initiative of the French national space agency, the Centre national d'études spatiales (CNES) and the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), it is today operated by CLS (Collecte Localisation Satellite), a subsidiary of CNES. Since Argos entered service, three generations of instruments have succeeded one another. Eumetsat and the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) joined the programme in 1997 and 2007 respectively.

Inmarsat is to be acquired by a private equity consortium in a U.S.$6 billion deal. The news comes after Echostar made a bid for the mobile satellite communications company just last year and after interest was also shown by Eutelsat and SoftBank.

Pakistan’s space agency, the Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO), is believed to be in talks with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on developing an agenda for possible space cooperation, according to a senior SUPARCO official quoted in the UAE newspaper Khaleej Times.