Focus: Telecom

[Satellite Today – 3-21-08] WorldSpace Satellite Radio suffered a poor fourth quarter and year, with revenues, subscribers and net loss all taking a hit, the company announced March 20.     WorldSpace reported revenues of $3.8 million for the fourth quarter of 2007, a 24 percent decrease from $5 million in the fourth quarter of 2006....

[Satellite Today – 3-21-08] Space insurers will raise premiums up to 30 percent following failures in 2007, according to the new Aon Space Market Review, Aon Corp. announced March 20.     Claims for 2007 are estimated to reach $835 million, which includes the failure of the Sea Launch rocket carrying the NSS-8 satellite in January...

[Satellite Today – 3-21-08] The Canadian government March 20 extended the deadline for making a decision on the sale of the space unit of MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. (MDA) to ATK, according to press reports. The deadline for the decision was March 22, but Industry Canada Minister Jim Prentice exercised a 30-day extension of...

[Satellite Today – 3-20-08] GPS receiver chipset shipments will reach 1 billion annually by 2013, according to a new study from ABI Research, the company announced March 19.     The increase prediction is based on the popularity of satellite-based navigation technology, with the upsurge in GPS devices fueling a subsequent increase in GPS Integrated Circuit...

[Satellite Today – 3-20-08] The first Space-Based Infrared System (SBIRS) spacecraft has passed the first phase of the baseline integrated system test and is undergoing a test of the integrated satellite, Lockheed Martin announced March 19.     SBIRS, which is designed to provide early warning of missile launches as well as support other missions including...

[Satellite Today – 3-20-08] Iridium Satellite has formed an alliance with Northrop Grumman Corp. business unit Sperry Marine to support Iridium’s marine satellite systems, Iridium announced March 19.     Under the agreement, Sperry Marine will supervise, install and commission the Iridium OpenPort terminals, provide onboard service, technical support and warranty repairs, and develop training packages...

[Satellite Today – 3-20-08] Boeing Co. has received the first signals from the DirecTV-11 satellite, which was launched March 19 by a Sea Launch Zenit-3SL rocket.     DirecTV-11 is a Boeing 702 satellite that will enable DirecTV to continue expanding its high-definition line up from its position at 99.2° West.     "The successful launch of...

[Satellite Today – 3-20-08] Intelsat Ltd. reported record revenue of $575.5 million in the 2007 fourth quarter, helping cuts it net loss by 96 percent to $2.6 million, the company announced March 20.     For the year, Intelsat posted revenue of $2.2 billion, a 29 percent increase over 2006 revenues of $1.7 billion. Intelsat’s loss...

[Satellite Today – 3-19-08] AeroAstro, a business unit of Radyne Corp., received a $1.2 million order from Globalstar for additional sensor enabled notification system (SENS) systems, Radyne announced March 19.     SENS, a digital signal processing infrastructure component, is installed at Globalstar ground stations to receive and decode asset tracking and monitoring data from field...

[Satellite Today – 3-19-08] Norsat International Inc. reported a decrease in revenue and net earnings for the fourth quarter of 2007 but an overall increase for the year, the company announced March 19.     Norsat’s satellite systems segment earned 2.6 million Canadian dollars ($2.6 million) for the quarter ending Dec. 31, a 16 percent decrease...