Finance

[Satellite News 06-24-11] Telenor Satellite Broadcasting (TSBc) will announce next week which company has won the contract to launch its new Thor 7 satellite, TSBc CEO Cato Halsaa, told Satellite News.    Four companies — Arianespace, ILS, SpaceX and Sea Launch — are still in the running for the deal, with SpaceX and Arianespace as...

[Satellite News 06-16-11] China Great Wall Industry Corp. (CGWIC), which was established in 1980, is the sole commercial organization authorized by the Chinese government to provide satellites, commercial launch services and to carry out international space cooperation. The company wants to become more of a force internationally as part of a launch market that is...

[Satellite News 05-05-11] Speaking through an interpreter at the Space Symposium in Colorado last month, China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp. (CAST) Vice President Lei Fanpei hinted that Chinese space officials are skeptical of SpaceX’s set launch prices and admitted that they are too low for China Great Wall Industry’s Long March rocket to match....

SES’s plan to launch its SES-8 satellite on a SpaceX vehicle may be the first sign that more competition — and possibly lower prices — could be coming to the launch services market. The major FSS players have been at the forefront of the push to add more launch vehicle options around the globe, and...

[Satellite News 04-05-11] SpaceX unveiled its Falcon Heavy rocket and expects the first demonstration launch of the vehicle to take place at Vandenberg Air Force, Calif., as early as 2013, CEO and CTO Elon Musk announced April 5 at the National Press Club in Washington D.C.     The Merlin engine-powered Falcon Heavy rocket had been...

[Satellite News 04-04-11] Sea Launch has emerged from bankruptcy and has received a vote of confidence from FSS giant SES which signed a framework agreement with Sea Launch  regarding possible cooperation on future launches.     In an interview with Satellite News, Sea Launch President Kjell Karlsen discussed how many contracts the company will need to...

[Satellite News 03-31-11] Optus Satellite Director Paul Sheridan is planning to sign a launch services contract for its Optus 10 satellite by the middle of the year.     While the company has yet to determine who will launch the 3.2-ton satellite, Sheridan told Satellite News that the operator is considering alternative launch providers during the...

While reviewing the last 30 years of history during SATELLITE 2011 many of the discussions during the show looked not at the position the satellite sector holds today but where satellite players might find themselves 30 years into the future     The leaders of the four largest FSS companies set the direction of this discussion...

One of the closing panels  of SATELLITE 2011 focused on a highly discussed topic in terms of the future of the satellite sector — broadband. The panel “Satellite Broadband: Ready for Real Market Impact?” brought together speakers from O3b Networks, ViaSat, Hughes Network Systems, Eutelsat and Thaicom to discuss the opportunities available for satellite players....

The tone of SATELLITE 2011 Strengths, Weaknesses Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) panel took an optimistic turn as satellite executives tried to deflate talking points centered on terrestrial threats to the industry.    Throughout the show, some industry analysts speculated that the sheer size of the $60 billion cellular market would enable satellite’s terrestrial competitors to...