People

by Lou Zacharilla

New York City, NY, September 4, 2012--As the satellite industry heads into a season of  forums, conferences and networking events, we get a chance to examine what the industry believes are its most important issues.  Because there are many voices and advocates for the key niches in our industry, I thought it would be useful to engage the leadership of key trade associations and special interest groups.  Each represents an important tract in a diverse “Satellite Nation.”  We begin on the ground, with a conversation with M. Brett Belinsky, the chairman of World Teleport Association.

Geneva, Switzerland, September 3, 2012-- The Secretary General of the ITU, Dr. Hamadoun Touré shared his thoughts on sustainable development an the role of satellite technology with our Geneva correspondent Roxana Dunnette.  Excerpts of the interview:

by Lou Zacharilla

Washington, D.C., April 6, 2012--At the Satellite 2012 show in Washington, Bill Tillson, President and Chief Operating Officer of Encompass Digital Media in the United States was named the teleport industry’s 2012 Executive of the Year by World Teleport Association. In a ceremony in Washington, D.C., hosted by SES, Tillson was honored by his peers, including most of the world’s leading teleport operators, satellite companies and technology providers.

Los Angeles, Calif. March 2, 2012--Vince Waterson, President of Asia Pacific Teleport has worked for over 30 years telecommunications industry in Asia, Europe and North America. Vince founded VideoKall Inc while maintaining his role as VP of Business Development at Hawaii Pacific Teleport (HPT) a provider of satellite Internet services to the Asia Pacific region. Prior to joining HPT, Vince was VP of Business Development at Subic Bay Satellite Systems Inc, (SBSSI) satellite teleport in the Subic Bay Freeport Zone, Philippines. There he initiated the first large scale satellite internet service in the Asia-Pacific region in 1997 launched on Asiasat2 satellite.  While at SBSSI he designed and operated a satellite delivered Electronic Program Guide (EPG) system for cable TV head-ends in the Asia-Pacific region operating on Thaicom3 satellite.

Moscow, Russia, November 3, 2011--One satellite company that is aggressively pursuing expansion plans is Russia-based operator Gazprom Space Systems (GSS). At the recent IBC show in Amsterdam, GSS announced that it entered into a strategic partnership with  global satellite operator SES to provide additional satellite capacity to serve the Russian market.  To shed light on this agreement and their future plans, Satellite Markets and Research spoke to GSS’ Deputy Director-General Igor Kot. 

Geneva, Switzerland, November 1, 2011--At the recently-concluded ITU Telecom event in Geneva, Satellite Executive Briefing correspondent Roxana Dunnette spoke with the ITU’s Secretary-General Hamadoun Touré on the new ITU Telecom format and other issues. 

by Lou Zacharilla

New York City, October 7, 2011--This column was nearly entitled, “In Praise of Intelsat.” But I knew people would either not read it, accusing me of being a shill for the satellite industry, or would pore over it hoping it was an ironic title, and that I would write a funny piece intended to bash the world’s largest satellite operator.

by Lou Zacharilla

New York, August 4, 2011--With the satellite industry's sagging image,  there is a need to promote satellite  as a “high concept” approach.  the SSPI's Lou Zacharilla spoke with  Mark Dankberg, CEO of ViaSat; Adrian Ballintine, CEO of NewSat (and the Teleport Executive of the Year); Keith Hall, COO of Globecomm Systems and Keith Buckley, President of ASC Signal on the subject.