NSR forecasts THE inflight connectivity (IFC) will be a US$ 36 Billion market over the next decade, as more airlines outfit fleets with high throughput satellite (HTS) services.  However, the IFC market endured a challenging 2018 due to delays in installing equipment, indecisions by airlines, and uncertainty on business models, on top of technical and regulatory hurdles according to NSR . Overall, the market lost a bit of its shine as aeronautical connectivity grew in 2018 by US$400 million 40% less than expected. On the bright side, passenger aircraft retail revenues reached more than US$1 Billion for the first time.  NSR expects 2019 revenue growth to be the same with a faster pace of inflight connectivity hardware installs to catch up on backlog.

The Asia Video Industry Association (AVIA) will be hosting its annual Satellite Industry Forum (SIF) at the Four Seasons Hotel, Singapore on 17 June 2019.

This year, SIA welcomes Steve Collar, president and CEO of SES, as he gives a keynote presentation and shares his views about spectrum war.

Managing new business challenges should encompass the entire satellite workflow and make it far easier to set up satellite antennas, reduce operator fails/ issues and ensure entire networks are continuously and automatically monitored. Integrasys has already worked and continues to do so, with a few satellite operators to drastically reduce running costs through better tools for installation and monitoring. Yet, there is one area that remains very tricky complicated and that is the process of buying and selling satellite capacity.

Following-on from the Aberdeen, Scotland, Oilfield Connectivity 2019 event back in May, the GVF-EMP Partnership will be presenting its next event – Cellular Backhaul 2019: Satellite and the 5G Journey (www.uk-emp.co.uk/current-events-zone/cellular-backhaul-2019/) – as an embedded feature of the biggest 5G-dedicated event in the world, taking place on 13 June at London’s Docklands ExCeL Center.

With 21 commercial satellites at the geostationary orbit, Japan is still the largest satellite operating country in the Asia Pacific Region.

CANAL+ Group is acquiring M7, one of the largest independent pay-TV companies in Europe operating in Benelux and Central Europe. M7 is owned by Astorg, a leading European private equity firm. This acquisition is subject to the European Commission’s approval.

M7 is an aggregator and distributor of local and international channels via satellite and OTT platforms. It has developed a presence in the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania where it has a total of 3 million subscribers, of which 0.8 million to a basic access package.

LiveU, a provider of live IP video solutions, is pleased to announce that Francisco Partners, a global technology-focused private equity firm, together with co-investor IGP Capital, have acquired LiveU from its existing shareholders.

The dynamics of the global space community are honing the focus towards developing more international cooperation, with these opening opportunities to transform various industrial sectors. Countries like Luxembourg are becoming the focal points of the global space entrepreneurs by encouraging huge amounts of investments in the space sector, punching far above their weight in this emerging industry.

The Board of Directors of Inmarsat and majority of its shareholders have voted on May 10 in favor of the acquisition of a consortium, comprising Apax, Warburg Pincus, and a pair of Canadian pension funds for US$3.3 billion (€2.9 billion) for the satellite operator.

The deal is expected to close in Q4 this year following regulatory approvals. The offer of acquisition was first reported in March this year.

At Satellite 2019 there was a payload full of exotic, interesting sessions, many flavored for the month and the buzz of the “New Space” era. While our commercial space and satellite industries are undergoing a burst not unlike the roar caused by Mount Vesuvius when it blows, the long hours on the show floor, the stream of panels and the happy chatter at networking events yields an inevitable echo chamber. By the last day we bounce around each other, happily, collegially and more often than not in a state of overload.