Inmarsat today announced that Inmarsat-5 F1, the first in its fleet of three Global Xpress (GX) satellites, has successfully completed its orbital deployment stages on schedule.  Inmarsat and Boeing engineers, working from Inmarsat’s GX teleport in Nemea, Greece, are now beginning a month of comprehensive payload testing, in preparation for commencing live end-to-end testing of the high-speed, mobile broadband GX connectivity services, scheduled to start in March.

RigNet has completed a strategic transaction with Inmarsat involving the sale of substantially all of Inmarsat's Energy Broadband business to RigNet and the appointment of RigNet as a Value Added Reseller of Inmarsat's Global Xpress (GX) service and as a Distribution Partner for Inmarsat's L-band services to the energy sector worldwide.RigNet has acquired Inmarsat's Energy Broadband business for US$25 million in cash.

Geneva, Switzerland, February 3, 2014-- Satellite communications specialist Newtec and the operator of the world’s largest satellite and fiber live video network, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), have signed a multimillion-euro contract. The deal is to deploy Newtec’s satellite broadcast solutions as part of the EBU’s major pan-European news exchange network.

Skyline Communications, a provider of end-to-end multi-vendor network management solutions for the IPTV, satellite, HFC broadband and broadcast industry, announced record sales figures for 2013 at its annual employee event last week. The company reported that it has achieved revenue growth averaging 25% per year in the last ten years.

My previous column for Satellite Executive Briefing noted that I would be providing an update to the next event in the GVF-EMP Partnership Conference Portfolio, which takes place in London on 11th & 12th February. Connectivity 2014: Creating the New “New” Verticals – Air, Water, Surface & Rail (www.uk-emp.co.uk/emp-home/current-events/connectivity-2014/) is expected to be the first in a new series of the Portfolio, adding to the current

Euroconsult, a consulting firm specialized in satellite communications and broadcasting, announced the launch of LATSAT – the Latin American Satellite Communication & Broadcasting Summit. The first edition will be taking place in Mexico City on June 4-5 2014. LATSAT is also supported by the Secretaría de Comunicaciones y Transportes (Mexico’s Ministry of Communication and Transport).
 

Satellite operators Eutelsat and SES announced today that they have concluded a series of agreements including a comprehensive settlement concerning the right to operate at the 28.5 degrees East orbital position and long-term commercial as well as frequency coordination elements.

Space Tech Conference 2014 http://www.spacetechexpo.com will bring together key military personnel, government officials and private industry executives to discuss the pressing issues facing the space industry from April 1-3, 2014 in Long Beach, California.

The global installed base of TV-centric connected devices surpassed one billion units in 2013 and will exceed two billion by 2017, driven by smart TV, IP-enabled set top boxes, game consoles, Blu-ray players and low cost digital media adapters, according to the latest research from Futuresource Consulting.

The Radio Frequency Interference – End Users Initiative (RFI-EUI) and the Satellite Interference Reduction Group (IRG) today announced a merger, helping the two groups to better serve the industry and combat satellite interference together.