Focus: Telecom

By Peter J. Brown Every twelve months, this columnist is handed an opportunity to either wrap-up last year’s loose ends or plunge headlong into the open door of the coming year. This will be a bit of both. After all, a year that brought us both the magical moment from SpaceShip One and Wall Street...

By James Careless Historically, it has been a challenge for satellite executives to profitably expand their business in Africa, despite the fact that satellite footprints blanket the continent. Add Africa’s underdeveloped terrestrial networks, and one has to ask, "Why isn’t this market a satellite provider’s playground?" The answer is two-fold: Politically, the combination of authoritarian...

By Owen D. Kurtin, Brown Raysman Millstein Felder & Steiner LLP* In a two-article series last year, this column examined the potential positive and negative influences on the satellite industry of the emergent class of private equity shareholders in the operator sector. We did not go far in predicting which potential was more likely to...

By Gerry Oberst At the top of the decision-making process for radio spectrum and certain licensing matters in Europe is the Electronic Communications Committee (ECC) of the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT). As this column often notes, decisions from the ECC are not legally binding on the 45 European countries that make...

By Sam Silverstein In the wake of a burst telecom bubble that threw the satellite communications business off its fast growth track and into a multi-year tailspin, a newly arrived crop of private financial backers has been taking over much of the industry and priming it for improvement. Having sensed a unique opportunity to enter...

By Peter J. Brown In 2004, global natural disasters and terrorist attacks took a tremendous toll. In the United States, many died and billions in property damage resulted as hurricanes ravaged the southern region of the country. Japan’s Niigata Prefecture was devastated by a major earthquake, which claimed numerous lives. And in Europe, dozens died...

by Owen D. Kurtin The re-election of President George W. Bush means that a continued heightened governmental focus on the security aspects of the satellite business to the potential detriment of commercial considerations may be expected. The principal flashpoint for security and commerce issues is technology exports. The commercial health of the satellite manufacturing and...

by Nick Mitsis Even though increased business applications have emerged within key markets for executives in the global satellite communications industry, the operational side of the satellite arena is slated to remain the same for the near term. From satellite operators and spacecraft manufacturers to the launch service providers, the trends of 2004 will likely...

By Peter J. Brown The centuries old Silk Road in Central Asia is by no means forgotten, and yet, it is the IPv6 over satellite traffic on the virtual silk highway that is drawing considerable attention these days. The SILK satellite network provides a direct link between several Central Asian and Caucasian research networks and...

By Scott Chase A celebrated warrior, in the heat of action, once cried, "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead." Substitute "financials" for torpedoes and much the same sentiment can be heard these days in the high bays and clean rooms of the world’s principal commercial satellite manufacturers Alcatel Space, Boeing Satellite Systems, EADS Astrium, Lockheed...