World of Satellite-News Updates

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Thuraya and AT&T Launch Roaming Service
March 19, 2013
Thuraya Telecommunications has partnered with AT&T to provide Thuraya users throughout the United States with outbound GMS roaming and data services, the company announced March 19.
Launched on March 15, the roaming service is designed to enable Thuraya subscribers to use the AT&T network to roam seamlessly with their Thuraya XT-Dual handsets. Thuraya customers located in the United States, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands are now able to make and receive calls and texts messages (SMS). The next goal of the service aims to allow AT&T customers to roam using the Thuraya satellite network, spanning across Africa, Asia, Australia and Europe
“We recognize that keeping in close communication with each other is vital to both businesses as well as consumers today,” Thuraya Vice President of Marketing T. Stanford Jewett said in a statement. “We are excited to be working with one of the world’s leading carriers to provide Thuraya customers in the United States with this service. With more than 350 roaming partners worldwide, Thuraya is the only satellite operator that offers roaming services over mobile networks and we are pleased that AT&T is one of our key roaming partners.”

 

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Harmonic ProMedia Solutions to Power Virgin TV Anywhere Service
March 19, 2013
Virgin Media has selected Harmonic's ProMedia integrated software solutions to power its new multiscreen service Virgin TV Anywhere, the video delivery infrastructure company announced March 19.
Virgin Media aims to utilize Harmonic’s real-time multiscreen video processing and encoding technology to provide Virgin TV Anywhere customers with up to 45 live TV channels on a variety of devices as well as the ability to manage recorded programs and control TiVo set-top boxes through the Virgin TV Anywhere app.
"The world of digital entertainment is moving fast and consumers are always looking for compelling ways to take advantage of the connectivity built into today's gadgets,” Virgin Media Director of TV Engineering Neil Drennan said in a statement. “Harmonic's ProMedia software solution optimizes our multiscreen operational workflow, helping us put fantastic entertainment at our customers' fingertips."
Virgin Media aims to seamlessly monitor and control its multiscreen video and audio services by utilizing Harmonic’s NMX Digital Service Manager, controlling both the ProMedia Live and ProMedia Package systems. The company plans to use a comprehensive user interface to create and modify network topology and channel lineups and set encoding parameters. Utilizing the system’s scalable and extensible architecture, Virgin Media aims to support hundreds of live television channels and launch additional services such as start-over and catch-up TV.

 

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Inmarsat Names AST as FleetBroadband Services Distribution Partner
March 19, 2013
Applied Satellite Technology (AST) will serve as an Inmarsat Distribution Partner for FleetBroadband services, the company announced March 18.
AST has been serving the global maritime market for over 20 years through their AST Live! Suite, which includes a traffic management and control capacity that is used in the delivery of FleetBroadband. According to AST Airtime Director Mark Sykes, AST already offers its services to Inmarsat, Iridium, Thuraya and Globalstar.
“AST’s primary focus will be to grow the Fishing, Leisure and Workboat markets, building on our core customer base in these areas,” AST Director Jason Abbott, Director said in a statement. “With offices and partners around the world and in key maritime locations, AST is ideally placed to grow FleetBroadband revenue in these sectors - we’re very pleased to be working closely with Inmarsat to achieve our joint goals.”

 

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STM Group Announces New SatLink2910 at SATELLITE 2013
March 19, 2013
STM Group has developed the SatLink 2910 VSAT indoor unit, tripling the throughput of the SatLink 2900 VSAT, the company announced at the Satellite 2013 Conference March 18.
The SatLink 2910 VSAT supports all satellite bands and is especially well-suited for powerful new Ku- and Ka-band High-Throughput satellites, significantly gaining efficiency in maritime and mobile markets.
Features of the SatLink 2910 include: advanced QoS, integration of traffic shaping with ACM controls, integrated link encryption using AES-256, VLAN tagging with private networking extensions, mesh networking among VSATs and a built-in 8-carrier mesh TDMA burst receiver.
This 1U rack-mountable unit aims to primarily target broadband multimedia services for maritime and other professional markets and to serve demanding specialized applications for large commercial enterprises and government ministries.

 

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Hearing Called to Discuss Threat of Near-Earth Objects
March 19, 2013

Artist's illustration of recent Russian space rock explosion and same day close flyby of an asteroid
Image credit: Texas A&M

The Science, Space and Technology Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives is holding a hearing on March 19 named "Threats from Space: A Review of U.S. Government Efforts to Track and Mitigate Asteroids and Meteors, Part 1" to discuss the kind of threat that space rocks pose and how to protect the Earth against this threat with the help of agencies like NASA and the Air Force.

This is the first of a series of meetings called as a result of Earth’s most recent encounters with asteroids. An example of an occurrence was on Feb. 15 when a meteor exploded over Russia on the same day that a large asteroid flew close by Earth.

Today’s hearing will focus on the basics of tracking a meteor or asteroid, hoping to answer many questions in regards to the tools, technology, frequency and accuracy of detecting and tracking of near-Earth objects. Three experts will take questions during the hearing: the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Director John Holdren, U.S. Air Force Space Command current commander Gen. William Shelton, and NASA administrator Charles Bolden.

A second congressional hearing is scheduled aiming to focus on international efforts to monitor the sky for asteroids and meteors, but issues in detecting near-Earth objects are being called to attention as well.

 

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SES Boosts Coverage to 276 Million Households Worldwide
March 19, 2013

SES' global fleet map of 52 geostationary satellites worldwide. Blue represents operational satellites and purple represents satellites to be launched.
Image credit: SES

At the Satellite 2013 Conference March 19, SES CEO Romain Bausche announced that the company has increased its viewing numbers by 17 million from last year, reaching approximately 276 million homes worldwide as of Dec. 31.

This gain can be highly attributed to strong growth in Germany and India. Specifically, SES in India saw an increase of 7.5 million homes, due to a high demand for DTH platforms, Dish TV and Airtel Digital TV, which now reach 25 million homes from SES satellites. The Indian Space Research Organization contracts this SES capacity in India. The growth of the Indian DTH market, as well as the digitalization of cable has driven this growth in India for SES.

Satellite has increased its reach in Europe by 17 percent over the last four years. The number of households watching satellite TV in HD quality continues to rise and reached 41 percent of all European satellite households. Germany, in particular, has contributed to this growth through the switch-off of the analogue satellite signals and the success of the HD platform HD+.

 

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Amicable Launch Services Panel Recognizes Common Challenges
March 20, 2013
It was a unusally friendly launch services panel at SATELLITE 2013, featuring a mostly new set of leaders from Arianespace, International Launch Services (ILS), Lockheed Martin Commercial Services, SpaceX, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Sea Launch examining a cooperative approach to increase business and profitability for the entire sector. With increasing pressure from operators for lower cost access to space and a wider variety of options to reach orbit, the commercial launch industry has been tasked to adapt to its customers and identify strategies to solve new challenges presented by an expanding, diverse launch customer base.
Sea Launch General Manager Kjell Karlsen was the only executive that had sat on the previous year’s launch panel. It has been a tough start to the year for his company, due to its recent failure to launch the Intelsat-27 satellite. Sea Launch quickly bounced back, however, signing a recent deal with EchoStar Satellite Services to send a satellite into orbit on the Zenit rocket.
"We are in middle of an investigation [relating to launch failure of IS-27] and our Russian and Ukrainian partners are completing the investigation,” said Karlsen. “Everyone wants us to be a successful player in the market. We will be back in the market. EchoStar has flown three times with Sea Launch, We are fortunate to continue our discussions with them, and close a deal fairly quickly. This is a signal from EchoStar that they are bringing Sea Launch back into the fold.”
Robert Cleave, president of Lockheed Martin Commercial Launch Services brought the law of diminishing returns into sharp focus when he responded to comments made by Intelsat CEO Dave McGlade earlier that day regarding the need for more competitive pricing for U.S. launch vehicle alternatives.
We have some great news on the price point for commercial customers,” said Cleave. “There is a lot of hope and anticipation about what we might do, but our current price will become very competitive in the marketplace. We have not seen great returns over the last 10 years and I don’t see a slew of new entrants coming into the market. Every launch service provider needs a return on that investment, to ensure the reliability you need to pay for it; that is why prices have not come down.”
Arianespace CEO Jean-Yves Le Gall did not appear on the panel this year, as he continues forward through the process of taking a leadership position at the French space agency CNES. Jacques Breton, senior vice president of sales and customers for Arianespace emphasized its plans to complete 10 launches this year, with six Ariane 5 launches, three Soyuz launches, and one launch on the small- to medium-lift Vega rocket.
Phil Slack, the new president of ILS, said his company is looking forward to a very active year, with about 10 to12 launches. While Slack confirmed that the company had no plans to expand its range of vehicles in the near future, he also pointed out that the deal between ABS and Satmex, and Boeing and SpaceX were an example of how operators are looking for a total low cost economic solution from the cost of the satellite through to the cost of the launch.
Breton noted that one of the key advantages that the company has is its ability to attract new operators to the mix, which more than most, crave the reliability that Arianespace can provide. “In several regions of the world, we see countries and operators which now have the capability to put a satellite into orbit. They want a reliable launch service provider for this. New operators want to go with Arianespace. If you want reliability, you have to pay for it,” he said.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) General Manager of Business Development Naohiko Abe addressed how Japan would play an increasing role in the international commercial launch sector with its H-2B rockets. Following the successful launch of its H-2B launch vehicle this past July, MHI will now handle all H-2B launches. MHI has been commissioned to launch H-2A rockets since 2007, but the H-2B can perform launches of large-size satellites that are double in weight.
Sitting in for SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell, senior vice president of commercial sales and business development Barry Matsumori said that reliability and value would be a critical step for the company. The company, which is set to launch key commercial satellites such as SES-8 and Thaicom-6 this year, aims to bring new business models that can excite the industry in 2013.

 

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Thuraya Announces First iPhone Satellite Adaptor
March 20, 2013
Thuraya Telecommunications has launched the Thuraya SatSleeve adaptor designed to bring satellite connectivity to the Apple iPhone, the Mobile Satellite Services (MSS) operator announced March 20.
Thuraya SatSleeve is designed to be a compact adaptor only slightly larger than the iPhone itself. It aims to offer easy and affordable access to mobile satellite communications over the Thuraya satellite network, allowing users to stay connected by voice and text beyond the coverage of traditional terrestrial networks.
“The launch of Thuraya SatSleeve represents a major milestone and a game-changing innovation in the satellite industry,” Thuraya Chief Executive Officer Samer Halawi said in a statement. “This is the first consumer friendly mobile satellite phone ever launched, which dramatically increases the reach to satellite telephony for enterprise, government, and everyday consumers alike. It provides iPhone users with a versatile and highly affordable means of conducting phone calls and sending SMS via satellite from the world’s most remote locations."

 

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Norsat to Supply Microwave Components for O3b Constellation
March 20, 2013
Norsat International has been selected as an authorized supplier of microwave components for O3b Networks ground terminals, the communications solutions provider announced March 20.
Norsat will provide the launch of O3b’s next generation Ka-Band satellite constellation with O3b custom frequency 5W and 10W Block Upconverters (BUCs) and Low-Noise Blocks Downconverters (LNBs). The constellation aims to deliver telecommunications and data backhaul from remote locations and provide maritime customers with consumer broadband internet services. This multi-million dollar, multi-year project aims to integrate Norsat’s LNBs into maritime systems in order for O3b to provide high-speed satellite-delivered broadband service at sea by summer 2013.
“We’re pleased to be selected as a preferred vendor to O3b Networks and look forward to building the first Medium Earth Orbit satellite constellation through this partnership,” Norsat President and CEO Dr. Amiee Chan said in a statement. “The customizations we’ve introduced to our leading edge microwave products make them ideal for projects with high reliability requirements, such as communications at sea. This new partnership with O3b is another milestone as we deliver on our mission to develop innovative communications products and services for challenging applications and environments.”

 

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IDC and Verimatrix Provide DTH Operators with New IP Distribution Solution
March 20, 2013
International Datacasting Corp. (IDC) and Verimatrix will provide DTH operators with a new solution aiming to help launch new IPTV services and add subscribers within multi-dwelling units (MDUs), the companies announced March 19.
This solution enables fully encrypted end-to-end delivery of satellite television to customers living in MDUs by integrating the IDC Digital Tattoo DTH Over IP Gateway with the Verimatrix Video Content Authority System (VCAS) for DVB, featuring cardless content and revenue security for broadcast (one-way) networks. DTH operators will then be able to use this solution to partner with ISP wireless provider Telco and offer a triple play package of television, internet and voice-over-IP.
“This provides the basis for new value-added services for DTH operators and helps them access previously hard-to-reach customers,” Verimatrix Chief Sales and Marketing Officer Steve Oetegenn said in a statement. “In addition to increasing the ARPU (Average Revenue Per User), it eliminates in-building signal theft and allows users to select their own programming packages. Achieving subscriber and ARPU growth, while reducing churn and simultaneously enhancing revenue security, is a magic mix in this market.”
An Asian DTH Provider has already launched Digital Tatoo to IP set-top-boxes with integrated Verimatrix conditional access, resulting in cost efficiencies and a quick time-to-market.