Focus: Telecom

The Badr-4 satellite was launched from Kazakhstan Nov. 8 aboard a Russian Proton rocket, International Launch Services (ILS) announced Built by Astrium and owned by the Arab Satellite Communications Organization (Arabsat), Badr-4 will be located at 26 degrees East and provide direct-to-home TV as well as voice and broadband services across the Middle East, North...

Space Systems/Loral announced Nov. 9 that it has delivered the Wildblue-1 satellite to Arianespace in preparation for its scheduled launch in early December. Wildblue-1, built for Wildblue Communications Inc., is among the first commercial all Ka-band satellites, and is expected to help the company triple its customer capacity in the United States.

Sirius Satellite Radio posted revenue of $167.1 million in the 2006 third quarter, up 150 percent from the same period a year ago, the company announced Nov. 8. Sirius credited the revenue gains to its addition of nearly 3 million subscribers throughout the last 12 months, including 441,000 net new subscribers in the 2006 third...

ATK will become the lead contractor for Rocketplane Kistler’s K-1 launch vehicle, the companies announced Nov. 8. ATK will provide vehicle development, assembly, integration and test of the launch system as well as conduct launch and landing-site development and launch-vehicle preparation. ATK also will develop and produce composite structures and subsystems for the pressurized and...

Arianespace and Terrestar Networks Inc., a mobile communications operator and subsidiary of Motient Corp., signed Nov. 8 a launch-on-demand contract for Terrestar 1, touted as the largest-ever commercial communications satellite launched into geostationary orbit. The contract provides for up to three dedicated launch vehicles and entitles Terrestar to a launch window for Terrestar-1 on an...

DirecTV Group Inc. reported Nov. 8 that its third-quarter revenues increased 13 percent to $3.67 billion, and its operating profit before depreciation and amortization more than doubled, to $894 million, compared to the same period last year. The company reported that meantime, operating profit quadrupled and net income more than tripled, to $628 million and...

In its numbers report for the third quarter of 2006, Iridium Satellite LLC saw subscriptions increase by 22.9 percent over the same period last year, the company announced Nov. 8. Worldwide subscribers increased to approximately 169,000 from 137,500 in last year’s third quarter. Iridium reported its total revenue in the third quarter as $54.7 million;...

The market for very small aperture terminals (VSAT) in the Asia Pacific region has grown steadily even as markets in other regions have begun to slow, reports Frost & Sullivan, in announcing its new "Asia Pacific VSAT Markets Study from Singapore" research. Among information released Nov. 8, the company reported that total installed sites for...

Echostar Communications Corp. posted a profit of $140 million on revenues of $2.5 billion in the 2006 third quarter, the company announced Nov. 7. In 2005’s third quarter, the satellite-TV provider recorded a profit of $209 million on revenues of $2.1 billion. The company posted a non-cash gain of $73 million in the quarter to...

Research and Markets announced the release of its "State of the Space Industry 2005" report on Nov. 7. Designed to provide industry, government, and financiers with an independent assessment of the trends and issues affecting the industry, "State of the Space Industry 2005" offers quantitative and qualitative analysis and commentary on developments in the space...