Focus: Telecom

[12-3-07 – Satellite Today]  Japanese information and communications company KDDI has selected Antenna Technology Communications Inc. (ATCi) to provide the antenna for its newest teleport facility in Yamaguchi, Japan, ATCi announced Nov. 30.     ATCi will install a Simulsat C/Ku antenna, which can receive information from up to 35 satellites simultaneously. ATCi partnered with NEC...

[12-3-07 – Satellite News] Globecomm Systems Inc. donated thousands of dollars worth of satellite equipment and services to help victims of the California wildfires, which destroyed more than 1,400 homes and burned more than 500,000 acres in late October.     Globecomm donated a satellite terminal as well as the satellite service to use the terminal...

The demand for satellite-based communications is not fading anytime soon, according to a pair of studies released in early November. The fixed satellite services industry recorded an 8 percent growth in revenues and a 5 percent growth in transponder capacity volume in the last year, according to Euroconsult. The growth was driven by a new...

Thales Alenia Space, one of the major players in the satellite manufacturing arena, has been boosted recently by winning a huge satellite contract in the Middle East. Al Yah Satellite Communications Co. (Yahsat) awarded a contract to a joint team of Astrium and Thales Alenia Space in August to build a $1.7 billion dual satellite...

The satellite industry must seek to persuade policy makers at the highest international level as well as at the national and regional level of the need to protect existing satellite operations in the C-band (3.4 gigahertz to 4.2 gigahertz) from interfering terrestrial wireless applications. When this article is published, the ink will be barely dry...

Satellite broadband has long been a hot topic in the industry, but up to this year, the market generally has failed to live up to the expectations that it would serve as a growth driver for satellite players. However, 2007 may well be considered the year when the tide began, and with technology improvements and...

The closer you look at private networks and virtual private networks over satellite, the sooner you realize that both have considerable potential, and the two service offerings have emerged just as many multi-site enterprises are searching for reliable and affordable business continuity and enhanced networking options. Private networks and virtual private networks (VPN) over satellite...

An anti-satellite missile test conducted by China in January brought widespread attention to a threat that many in the satellite industry have been keeping tabs on for years — space debris. More than 12,000 objects larger than 10 centimeters across are known to exist in Earth orbit, and satellite operators have as much, if not...

As 2007 winds down, it is interesting to think about the satellite industry subsectors and where they are going. In our industry, companies compete within subsectors such as fixed satellite service (FSS), mobile satellite service (MSS), direct broadcast satellite, digital audio radio service, broadband, Earth imaging and others. The same holds true among manufacturers, where...

[11-30-07 – Satellite Today] Com Dev International Ltd. expects to report smaller revenue growth in 2007 due to the strengthening of the Canadian dollar, the company announced Nov. 29.     During the fourth quarter, the Canadian dollar strengthened by 13 percent versus the U.S. dollar, and Com Dev’s revenues will be affected by the magnitude...