Focus: Telecom

Mitsubishi Electric announced it has been conducting expressway-based field testing of its xAuto vehicle and related autonomous-driving technologies for self-sensing and network-based driving since May 2016. Mitsubishi Electric branded its autonomous driving technologies under the name Diamond Safety. The self-sensing vehicle combines various peripheral-sensing technologies, including a forward-monitoring millimeter wave radar with wide viewing angle,...

Flyht Aerospace Solutions announced the sale of its Automated Flight Information Reporting System (AFIRS) and FlyhtLog services to Azur Havacilik (Azur Aviation), based in Antalya, Turkey. The contract is valued at $2.1 million, for which Flyht will provide hardware to Azur Aviation for the next five years. Flyht stated it has all of the necessary...

Over the weekend, SpaceX Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and lead designer Elon Musk shared in an Ask Me Anything (AMA) thread on Reddit some additional details related to the company’s Big F**king Rocket (BFR). A recent filing by the company to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) also revealed Musk’s plans to begin ground testing of...

Sprint announced it has expanded its contract with Gilat Satellite Networks to include a three-year managed service project. This multi-million-dollar project includes services and technology to enable Sprint to expand its network coverage. Last October, Sprint selected Gilat’s satellite-based cellular backhaul solution to extend LTE services to metro edge and rural areas in the United...

Eutelsat Communications has acquired Noorsat, a satellite service provider in the Middle East, from Bahrain’s Orbit Holding Group for $75 million, debt free and cash free. Established in 2004, Noorsat is a distributor of Eutelsat capacity in the Middle East, serving blue-chip customers and providing services for more than 300 TV channels almost exclusively from...

Speedcast International announced that the company has been selected to provide Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) Ka-band managed communications services to a production asset owned and operated by a major U.S.-based operator in Equatorial Guinea on Bioko Island, off the coast of West Africa. Speedcast will leverage Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) connectivity to deliver communications...

Peter Pitsch, Intel’s executive director of federal relations and associate general counsel, refuses to get in a war of words. The company’s announcement last week, in partnership with Intelsat, about spectrum being used for 5G services has been the talk of our industry — and not in a very positive light. In a previous Via...

In a presentation delivered at the end of this week’s DC5G 2017 Summit, Intelsat Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing Kurt Riegelman asserted that satellite operators will continue to be the primary users of C-band spectrum under the company’s joint proposal with Intel. A handful of satellite operator executives, including ABS CEO Tom Choi,...

Blue Sky Network announced it has formed a strategic partnership with RocketRoute, a European-based aviation services company, to integrate the satellite tracking and real-time communication capabilities of Blue Sky’s SkyRouter with RocketRoute’s flight planning, fuel and concierge services suite. According to RocketRoute Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Uwe Nitsche, Blue Sky’s SkyRouter mapping and analytics dashboard...

The Dynamic Spectrum Alliance (DSA) is one of the most influential organizations across the telecommunications sphere, advocating for laws and regulations that support more efficient use of spectrum. DSA President Kalpak Gude shared his thoughts with Via Satellite on how he sees spectrum sharing paradigms changing to accommodate new 5G applications. At the DC5G 2017...