Focus: Telecom

MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. (MDA) will provide a data reception and transmission subsystem that will be used in an advanced solution for two Yamal-300 satellites for Russian operator Gascom. The contract, valued at about $14 million, was awarded to MDA by Japan’s Sumitomo Corp., which is providing an antenna and repeater system for Gascom...

Set-top box manufacturer Pace Micro Technology named Stuart Hall as its new CFO. Hall will join Pace in April, succeeding David Brocksom. Damien Wilkinson, Pace’s group financial controller, will head the finance team in the interim.

Intelsat Ltd. plans to offer about $600 million of senior notes due 2015, the company announced Jan. 8. The net proceeds will be used, along with cash on hand, to repay Intelsat (Bermuda) Ltd.’s outstanding $600 million senior unsecured bridge loan.

BCE, LORL The Fixed Satellite Services (FSS) businesses of Loral Space & Communications Inc. and Telesat Canada will be combined under a new Canadian company that will become the fourth largest operator in the world, the companies announced Dec. 18. Loral and its partner, Canada’s Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments), will acquire 100...

Moving to position itself to meet growing commercial demand for high-resolution satellite imagery, DigitalGlobe awarded Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. a contract to build the WorldView 2 satellite, DigitalGlobe announced Dec. 2. Scheduled to be placed into orbit in 2008, WorldView 2 would become the third satellite in DigitalGlobe’s constellation, joining the existing QuickBird satellite...

Moving to position itself to meet growing commercial demand for high-resolution satellite imagery, DigitalGlobe awarded Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. a contract to build the WorldView 2 satellite, DigitalGlobe announced Jan. 2. Scheduled to be placed into orbit in 2008, WorldView 2 would become the third satellite in DigitalGlobe’s constellation, joining the existing QuickBird satellite...

The resurgence of Mobile Satellite Services (MSS), an industry and Wall Street pariah after the bankruptcies of Iridium, Globalstar and ICO in the late 1990s, was one of the major themes of the satellite industry in 2006. Inmarsat’s successful initial public offering (IPO) and the launch of its promising Broadband Global Area Network (BGAN) service...

To compete in the evolving communications market, satellite operators must provide faster, more reliable and more advanced services. One of the methods for meeting this need is the flexible satellite, which allows operators to better control the signal, footprint and content of their satellite, providing for a more competitive offering. The concept of the flexible...

While satellite traditionally has enjoyed a virtual monopoly in rural markets, operators are finding more terrestrial competitors entering these growing regions. The small towns of Fairfield, Mont., Bridgeport, W.Va., and Bennington, Vt., are not used to being on the radar screens of corporate marketing departments. The towns have been so ignored by the communications industry...

With demand for satellite services growing, Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd. would like to see better performance from its Spacenet Inc. services group. To accomplish this, Gilat has rebuilt Spacenet’s executive team and placed the pressure to perform on the shoulders of CEO  Andreas Georghiou. This is not the first time that Gilat has asked Georghiou,...