Focus: Telecom

[Satellite Today 09-04-08] Karl Classen, president and CEO of ND SatCom, will resign, the company announced Sept. 4.     Padraig McCarthy, CFO of ND Satcom’s parent company, SES Astra, will serve as president and CEO of ND Satcom on an interim basis.     Classen had served as president of ND SatCom since July 2000. “Karl...

[Satellite Today 09-04-08] Eutelsat‘s W5 satellite, which suffered problems in mid-June, could have its operational life reduced by nearly three years, the operator announced Sept. 3.     Eutelsat and satellite manufacturer Thales Alenia Space conducted an investigation that determined that the W5 spacecraft may need to be shutdown in the fourth quarter of 2014. Previous...

[Satellite News 09-04-08] The termination of the merger agreement between Gilat Satellite Networks and a private equity consortium could “get somewhat ugly,” CEO Amiram Levinberg said. Gilat announced Aug. 29 that it was terminating the agreement and will seek a termination fee of more than $47 million, which equates to 10 percent of the value...

[Satellite News 09-02-08] A majority of satellite companies enjoyed a mid-August boost following the release of its second quarter financial reports. However, trends also show that many of those companies did not ride the wave provided by the boost.     Satellite stock values dipped towards the end of the month, though some were saved by...

[Satellite Today 09-04-08] Gilat Satellite Networks CEO Amiram Levinberg told Satellite Today that he was surprised that the proposed deal for a group of investors to acquire the company deteriorated so quickly.     Gilat signed an agreement in March to be acquired by a consortium of investors for $475 million, but according to Gilat, the...

[Satellite Today 09-03-08] Ball Aerospace has begun integration of the completed imaging instrument for the WorldView-2 commercial imaging satellite being built for DigitalGlobe, Ball announced Sept. 3.     WorldView-2 is expected to expand DigitalGlobe’s collection capabilities by nearly 1 million square kilometers per day, enable intra-day revisits to a specific geographic area and enhance DigitalGlobe’s...

[Satellite Today 09-03-08] Gateway Broadcast Services has secured further financing as it looks to build its satellite pay-TV business, GTV, in sub-Saharan Africa.      Gateway Broadcast Services, a subsidiary of Gateway Communications, said Sept. 2., that it had secured an additional $35 million of external funding, bringing the total capital invested into the GTV business...

[Satellite Today 09-03-08] WildBlue Communications Inc. has secured $50 million in equity financing, the satellite service provider announced Sept. 3.     Terms of the financing, led by Liberty Media, Intelsat, the National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative and the private equity firm of Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield and Byers, were not disclosed.     WildBlue said the proceeds will...

[Satellite Today 09-02-08] Alcatel-Lucent joined forces with the Telecommunications Journal of Australia to offer the Broadband Environment Challenge, awarding $10,000 in prize money for the best papers on broadband applications and solutions with potential to deliver benefits to environmental sustainability, Alcatel-Lucent announced Sept. 2.     The company said that the Eckermann-TJA Prize, named after the...

[Satellite Today 09-01-08] Eutelsat has signed a new capacity contract with SISLink, a supplier of satellite uplinks, Eutelsat said Sept. 1.     The deal, for a total of 4,000 hours of capacity, equips SISLink to meet growing requirements from agencies and broadcasting organzsations to provide TV coverage of leading sports and breaking news events. The...