Focus: Telecom

EMS Technologies Inc. received a contract from Alcatel Alenia Space to supply components for the communications payload of Globalstar’s next generation satellites, EMS announced April 9. Under the $5 million contract, EMS will supply RF transmitter power-combining assemblies for the constellation of 48 spacecraft, dubbed Globalstar 2. Alcatel received a contract from Globalstar in December...

While American professional sports are concerning themselves with performance-enhancers of a different sort, the Australian Football League (AFL) is hoping to expand its use of personal GPS devices to track and analyze in real time the performance of its players. According to a report in The Australian newspaper, the AFL is debating whether to lift...

AsiaSat no longer is part of the SES Global family, but while new owners are onboard, many of the company’s operational challenges will remain the same. The operator announced that General Electric (GE) had become a main shareholder of AsiaSat, holding more than 34 percent of the company. CITIC Group remains the other main shareholder...

In cooperation with the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs (DMVA), NASA and the Medallion Foundation, DigitalGlobe, a commercial high-resolution satellite imagery and geospatial information provider, is launching a new research and development project designed to help improve aviation safety in Alaska, DigitalGlobe announced March 28. Alaska is among the world’s most aviation-dependent regions, hosting...

Integral Systems built its business and reputation providing satellite control software for commercial operators. But after becoming the dominant provider in that market, Integral has to move to new areas to continue its growth. Today, Integral Systems garners most of its revenue from government customers, a transformation sparked by its 2002 win of the U.S....

The struggle to preserve satellite communications using radio frequencies around 4 gigahertz is heating up. Because the satellite industry uses this C-band frequency around the world, in mid-February, an alliance of leading satellite associations issued an information paper on the perceived threat arising from the rollout of mobile broadband technologies, showing technologies in the same...

With boats from China, New Zealand, Germany, the United States and Switzerland among the competitors at the 32nd America’s Cup, the event will draw an enthusiastic audience from around the globe. To provide coverage of the competition, which begins in April off the coast of Valencia, Spain, and could last nearly three months, broadcasters will...

There is much romanticism about the early days of the satellite industry. The history of scientists and engineers such as Conny Kullman, Bob Berry and Steve Dorfman leading the development of such technological achievements as the first Ariane rocket, Globalstar and the Pioneer Venus program, respectively, are legendary. It seemed a natural progression that these...

2007 will be a key year for Europe, with major programs such as the Galileo satellite navigation system and Global Monitoring for Environment and Security initiative scheduled to take crucial steps forward and the European Space Agency preparing to shape the continent’s space policy throughout the next few years. Which programs are likely to have...

This column has analyzed both the probable impact of private equity investment in the satellite sector and the regulatory burdens imposed on publicly listed companies in the United States in the wake of the Arthur Andersen, WorldCom and Enron accounting standards cases — notably by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. However, we have not examined...