Focus: Telecom

[Satellite Today – 4-17-08] Satamatics, a global provider of satellite telematics asset tracking and monitoring services, has sold more than 50,000 SAT-201 satellite terminals, the company said April 16.     The SAT-201 is an all-in-one terminal that allows users to track, trace, monitor and control mobile and fixed assets from any location in the world....

[Satellite Today – 4-17-08] Arqiva will roll out a new international high-definition (HD) platform for occasional use broadcasting, the company announced April 16.     Arqiva’s Washington Teleport will take feeds in any format, uplinking to any of the company’s ten international teleports and including connectivity to Arqiva’s own global terrestrial fiber network. The combination of...

[Satellite Today – 4-17-08] Thales is undergoing a major restructuring of its management team, Chairman and CEO Denis Ranque announced April 16.     Pascale Sourisse, formerly the senior vice president of the Space division, will be succeeded by Reynald Seznec, who previously served as senior vice president of operations. Sourisse has now been appointed senior...

[Satellite Today – 4-17-08] Orbital Sciences Corp. increased revenues and net income in the first quarter of 2008, the company announced April 17.     Orbital’s revenues increased by 30 percent for the quarter, from $228.2 million in 2007 to $296 million for the quarter ending March 31. Net income was $13.7 million in the first...

[Satellite Today – 4-17-08] The first high-definition (HD) public broadcast channel to German speaking countries, ORF HD, will launch in early May, SES Astra confirmed April 17. After the launch of ORF HD, the combined satellite systems of SES Astra and SES Sirius will transmit 31 HD channels.     The agreement with ORF allows the...

[Satellite Today – 4-16-08] Viasat will launch direct-to-home (DTH) services in Ukraine at the beginning of next week, its parent company Modern Times Group (MTG) announced April 16. Viasat Ukraine is the first licensed digital premium satellite operator in Ukraine, and the initial offering will consist of three pay-TV packages –Viasat Family, Viasat Popular and...

[Satellite Today – 4-16-08] iDirect Inc.’s IP communications platform has been certified to be interoperable with Ericsson’s Abis over IP GSM satellite backhaul solution, iDirect announced April 15.     The joint capabilities enables operators to reduce the cost of transporting cellular traffic over satellite by replacing Single Channel Per Carrier (SCPC) links with a shared...

[Satellite Today – 4-16-08] Shin Satellite has changed its name to Thaicom Public Company Ltd., the company said April 16. The name change became effective as of April 10. Thaicom Public Company Ltd. will start using the new symbol, ‘THCOM’, on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) next week. Thaicom is the name of the...

[Satellite Today – 4-16-08] DigitalGlobe Inc. has filed a registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission relating to a proposed initial public offering of its common stock, the company announced April 14.     DigitalGlobe hopes to raise $250 million with the offering, though a spokesman for the company said that number is subject...

[Satellite Today – 4-16-08] SatelliteToday.com will feature the latest news from the 2008 NAB Show beginning April 14.     Be sure to check out the live Blog at www.SatelliteToday.com/blog for updates on events in Las Vegas from April 14-17.