Inmarsat recently announced that it is working with partner SkyWave Mobile Communications to develop a new low data rate (LDR) tracking, monitoring and messaging service that is planned for launch in Q3 2011. The new device dubbed the IsatData Pro promises to deliver up to 37x data capability of current global M2M services. The announcement stated that compared to typical global M2M offerings that provide data connectivity rates of about 270-340 bytes, the new service aims to deliver near real-time messages of up to 10,000 bytes to the device, and up to 6,400 bytes from the device.

Market researchers at In-Stat say that nearly a third of U.S. households now paying for TV may opt out, or at least down, in the future. Pay TV subscriptions have leveled off, they said, growing just 0.15 percent over 2010. The figure indicates “no current trend toward video cord cutting/shaving,” i.e., the elimination or reduction in services.

There were 5.3 Billion mobile phones in use at the end of 2010.  Mobile phones if we can really still call them “phones” have a myriad of uses beyond making a mere phone call.  They’re used for email, web browsing, gaming, reading books, listening to and downloading music and watching and downloading video.  Total global mobile data traffic is growing rapidly; in 2010 it was 2.6 times greater than in 2009.  Video is becoming the major component of that data. 

Two very different cities will, over the next few months, host conferences in the GVF Oil & Gas Communications Series. Neither of these cities is the political capital if its respective nation, but each is a globally important center in the exploitation of hydrocarbon energy resources.

NSR has often spoken of the "indi"osyncracies of satellite capacity supply in the Indian market – be it the role of ISRO/Antrix as a gatekeeper, glass ceilings on capacity prices or the preferential allotment to the domestic INSAT fleet. No efforts were spared to keep the country’s six Pay TV DTH operators on Indian transponders. But a combination of power anomalies, increasing backlog, spectrum controversies and (more importantly) unmet demand have allowed “foreign” transponders to trickle into the country’s DTH market – one 3-5 year contract at a time.

The U.S. Government’s Energy Information Agency recently published that third quarter 2010 capital expenditures on production activities at the top 13 O&G companies are at a five-year high of $29.1B, exceeding the previous high in Q3 2008 of $28.2B. Driven in part by increases in drilling activities after the Gulf of Mexico Moratorium, capital expenditures are up 48% from third-quarter averages from 2005 – 2009, indicating a general upward trend in overall exploration and production (E&P) activities.

The 30th anniversary edition of the Satellite show held in Washington, D.C. from March 14-17 was like a big coming out party for the industry. Having just survived one of the worst global recessions relatively unscathed,  the mood at the show was decidedly bullish.   Senior industry executives speaking at the conference were almost unanimously positive on the industry’s position yet they also recognize that there are still many challenges ahead. 

The Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro will host the GVF Oil & Gas Communications Brazil 2011: The Digital Oilfield & Gasfield Imperative, Onshore, Offshore, Deepwater conference over the period 19th & 20th April, which is being held in association with Schlumberger, Intelsat, Gilat Satellite Networks, Hughes, Telespazio, and C-Com Satellite Systems.

The demand for mobile backhaul is growing at an unprecedented rate. Smart phones on ave-rage consume five times as much bandwidth as a regular cell phone and the number of smart phones is projected to increase by 300% to  two billion units in 2015.  This has prompted the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) to call for an increase in both fiber and spectrum in order to avoid network bottlenecks.  In July 2010 NSR projected that the satellite portion of this market should be worth just under  US$ 600 million by 2015. 

Washington, D.C., February 17, 2011--The Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) today unveiled the National Broadband Map -- the first public, searchable nationwide map of broadband Internet availability -- and the results of a new nationwide survey on broadband adoption.  The data will support efforts to expand broadband access and adoption in communities at risk of being left behind in the 21st century economy and help businesses and consumers seeking information on their high-speed Internet options.

“A state-of-the-art communications infrastructure is essential to America’s competitiveness in the global digital economy,” said Acting Commerce Deputy Secretary Rebecca Blank.