Intelsat joined GSMA as it looks to help solidify the integration of satellite and terrestrial technologies and to push 5G deployment, the satellite operator said Tuesday.
The Aerospace Industries Association is urging a resolution to the budget impasse resulting in the partial federal shutdown. AIA said Tuesday that beyond direct effects on government employees, the shutdown is having a ripple effect, with export licenses no longer being processed, contractors being furloughed and research projects at the FAA, NASA and NOAA in limbo. “Every day the shutdown lasts, the impacts grow and become more difficult and more expensive to fix,” it said.
The satellite industry could have cumulative revenue of $159 billion by 2027 from the satellite-delivered broadband and very small aperture terminal markets, Northern Sky Research said Monday. NSR forecasts 13.4 percent annual growth in the installed base of consumer sites. It expects lower capacity pricing and a stronger focus on retail to help increase demand. It said proliferation of Wi-Fi hot spots could open the market as well. The researcher said business models need to adapt, with operators needing to go direct-to-market in emerging applications like backhaul.
Facing a demand for launch of 11,746 small satellites by 2030, the smallsat launch services market could see cumulative revenue in excess of $69 billion by then, Frost & Sullivan said Monday. It said the smallsat launch service market growth is accelerating, with 89 smallsats launched in Q3 and seven new operators entering the market.
Harbinger Capital's 2017 $1.9 billion fraud suit against SkyTerra's former owners and management -- on stay since February -- will remain on stay through April 3, said a New York State Supreme Court docket 657515/2017 stipulation Friday. The sides said the stay was at Ligado's request. SkyTerra became part of Ligado in 2010.
Sirius XM and Visa are collaborating on an "e-wallet" that would be integrated into vehicle dashboards and let drivers and passengers make purchases while driving, they said Monday. They said the e-wallet will be offered to manufacturers who deploy Sirius XM's connected vehicle services. They said Visa is setting virtual payment relationships with various retailers and will provide secure authentication capabilities, while Sirius XM is developing protocols for connectivity and in-vehicle interfaces.
NTIA's inclusion of protecting space assets from RF interference in goals as the U.S. seeks to create a long-term national spectrum strategy (see 1812210035) reflects economic importance of GPS, GPS Innovation Alliance Executive Director David Grossman blogged Monday. NTIA said protecting GPS signals from the increased spectrum use that will come with 5G deployment requires either keeping high-powered signals away from GPS or following the 1 dB noise floor standard for interference measurement.
Having pleaded guilty in 2015 to an antitrust charge and agreed to a $550 million fine (see 1507060031), JPMorgan Chase now is asking the FCC for OK to again have a stake in Ligado. In a docket 15-126 filing Thursday, the investment bank said its stake in Ligado has been held in proxy as part of the FCC's approval of Ligado -- then LightSquared -- emerging from bankruptcy (see 1603170039), but the agency should decide the firm has the qualifications to hold interest in the company and let the proxy agreement expire. It said the foreign currency exchange spot market misconduct that was subject of its antitrust charge was unrelated to Ligado and there has been "significant remedial action" since then. Wiley Rein's Richard Wiley, a former FCC chair, signed the filing.
Space-based mapping company Hawkeye 360 hopes to put up a 60- to 80-microsatellite non-geostationary low earth orbit constellation, with the first batch of three going up in Q4, said an FCC International Bureau application posted Thursday. It said it expects to launch between 165 and 220 satellites over the 15 years of the requested license term, orbiting at a nominal altitude of 575 kilometers. It said the satellites would have a design life of three years each, with the constellation being replenished as others reach their end of life. It said the constellation would be targeting such potential applications as emergency response support, spectrum mapping, ionospheric monitoring, maritime domain awareness and spectrum interference and piracy detection.
Dutch satellite component and subsystem maker Bradford Space Group bought California orbital propulsion system developer Deep Space Industries, it said Tuesday. It said DSI will remain in Silicon Valley but rebranded as Bradford Space. It said the deal is Bradford's first move into the U.S. space industry market.