Focus: Telecom

The U.S. Department of State’s rejection of the proposed privatization of Asia Satellite Telecommunications Holdings Ltd. (AsiaSat) did not come as "a complete surprise," AsiaSat CEO Peter Jackson said. According to reports, the U.S. government was concerned about compliance with U.S. International Traffic in Arms Regulations and concerns over potential transfer of satellite technology to...

Intelsat Ltd. has shut down a satellite transponder that was being used by Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tigers rebel group to make unauthorized broadcasts in Europe and Asia, the Sri Lankan Ministry of Defense announced. Phillip Spector, Intelsat’s general counsel, reported April 24 that the transponder used by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) had...

Thales Alenia Space signed its first commercial deal with a new customer, Telenor. In what ultimately proved to be a two-horse race, Thales Alenia Space beat out Orbital Sciences Corp., which is manufacturing the Thor 5 spacecraft for Telenor, to clinch the deal. The deal will see Thales Alenia Space build Telenor’s Thor 6 satellite,...

A new pricing plan announced by Globalstar Inc. has raised new questions about the company’s long-term health in light of the deteriorating condition of its satellite constellation. Under Globalstar’s Unlimited Loyalty satellite airtime rate plan unveiled April 10, customers in the United States can use unlimited satellite voice minutes for calls to the United States,...

Avanti Screenmedia has completed the demerger of Avanti Communications, which will allow the satellite networks business to concentrate on building a successful business in the satellite arena. Now that the demerger has taken place, it should also be easier for the operator to communicate the strength of its satellite business, said David Williams, CEO of...

Alcatel-Lucent, Thales Alcatel-Lucent completed the transfer of Alcatel’s shares in Alcatel Alenia Space and Telespazio to Thales. Thales and Finmeccanica then combined their space operations under an entity dubbed the New Space Alliance, the companies announced April 10. The moves follow the European Commission’s April 4 approval of Thales’ acquisition of Alcatel’s 67 percent share...

Bigelow Aerospace thinks the secret to turning the suborbital tourism marketing in a successful business is by selling "hang time" to "sovereign clients" — specifically astronaut-supporting countries harboring aspirations of a space program — aboard the company’s planned low-Earth orbit space complex. Founder and CEO Robert Bigelow divulged for the first time April 10 his...

East View Cartographic (EVC) has added about 700,000 Ikonos satellite images to the online EVC Store, the company announced. EVC is an authorized reseller of Ikonos imagery via an agreement with GeoEye, which owns Ikonos. New data will be added on an ongoing basis and imager from French Spot satellites also will be added to...

Trimble has launched a multimedia layer of GPS-based adventure details for Google Earth, Trimble announced April 12. The premium GPS-based information incorporates information from the Trimble Outdoorscatalog of GPS-on-cellular applications as well as premium content from contributing magazines. The data will be available as a Google Earth Featured Content Layer. The information targets the outdoor...

The commercial space industry can provide significant space technology advanced if nurtured, Alex Tai, vice president of operations for Virgin Galactic, said. “Technical expertise is much better than what’s being demonstrated” in the space industry, he said April 12 at the National Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colo. “…“I’m very optimistic” about the market as...