News Analysis

Dakar, Senegal, October 3, 2019 – ND SATCOM, the premier supplier of and integrator for innovative satellite communication systems and solutions, announced today the acquisition of TECNA located in Dakar, Senegal. This important strategic move will further enhance outreach and interaction between the company and its customers, partners and the leading communication companies in the West Africa region.TECNA Suarl has been renamed ND SatCom SENEGAL.

by Robert Bell

New York City, October 1, 2019--Long, long ago, when commercial teleport companies were a new thing, they had a terrific business model that offered access to the satellite network.  They leased transponder capacity long-term, sliced and diced it up and served it out to customers – initially for broadcast TV and then for a gradually expanding set of applications from corporate data networks to the internet.  Margins were good and the market was in growth mode.

Singapore, October 1, 2019 – Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd (ST Engineering) announced that further to its announcement made on 27 March 2019, its subsidiary Singapore Technologies Engineering (Europe) Ltd has today completed the acquisition of a 100% ownership in Newtec Group NV (Newtec) following the fulfilment of completion conditions, including the receipt of applicable regulatory approvals.

by Elisabeth Tweedie, Associate Editor

London, UK, October 1, 2019--The recurring themes running through the three European Conferences (World Satellite Business Week in Paris, IBC in Amsterdam and VSAT and Next Generation Satellite Applications in London) durig the month of September, were the need for flexibility and the Low Earth Orbit (LEO) constellations.

Canberra, Australia, October 1, 2019--Electro Optic Systems (ASX: EOS) has agreed to acquire space communications company EM Solutions Pty Limited (EMS), an Australian technology company in the field of microwave satellite communications.EMS will form part of EOS Communication Systems.

Mountiain View, Calif., September 18, 2019--iDirect Government, a wholly owned subsidiary of ST Engineering iDirect, has acquired Glowlink Communications Technologies, Inc., a Mountain View, CA, a solutions provider for mitigating satellite interferences and improving the quality of satellite communications.

Englewood, Colo., Sept. 10, 2019 — EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS) has announced the completion of its previously announced spin-off and subsequent merger with DISH Network Corporation (NASDAQ:DISH) of the portion of its business that manages, markets and provides (i) broadcast satellite services primarily to DISH, Dish Mexico, S. de R.L. de C.V. and their respective subsidiaries and (ii) telemetry, tracking and control services to satellites owned by DISH and a portion of EchoStar's other businesses, and certain related assets and business operations. 

by Martin Jarrold

I sit down to write this column within days of having returned from a GVF mission to the South Pacific, to Papua New Guinea. There, we – Riaz Lamak, Lead in GVF’s Benchmarking, Validation and High Availabilty Disaster Recovery (HADR) initiatives, and I – were hosted by both the United States Department of Defense Indo-Pacific Command and the PNG Defense Force under the ‘Multinational Communications Interoperability Program’ (MCIP).

Ecublens, Switzerland, September 4, 2019--Astrocast, a Switzerland-based Internet of Things (IoT) nanosatellite network, has secured US$ 9.2 (€8.3M)  Series A round of funding to accelerate production of IoT modules, to begin commercial phase and deployment of the its Low Earth Orbit (LEO) IoT network.

by Lou Zacharilla

New York City, NY, September 3, 2019--The uncomfortable co-existence among science, technology and religion is a few centuries old.  For a long while the three disciplines tried to stay in their own lane and tried to avoid swerving into the others’ lane.  But a collision was inevitable.  The crash has given us a toxic political and social climate at times, and made us mistrust each of the three disciplines.