Satellite Industry News

WASHINGTON, DC.  APRIL 19, 2018.  The Satellite Broadcasting and Communications Association praised the Federal Communications Commission’s decision yesterday to permanently invalidate Philadelphia’s onerous satellite dish restrictions, which had been suspended since 2011.

Viasat Inc., a global communications company, announced today it will offer a satellite-enabled Wi-Fi hotspot service—known as 'Community Wi-Fi'—to nearly all of Mexico. The new service will bring an affordable Wi-Fi experience directly to consumer's devices, where historically internet service was unavailable or unusable. The service can be deployed with minimal local infrastructure investment, and showcases Viasat's ability to quickly bring cost-effective internet service to emerging markets where large gaps exist between demand, affordability and availability of internet services.

Global communications company, Viasat Inc., confirmed it will not be moving forward with Eutelsat Communications on a deal for use of the ViaSat-3 satellite, due to Eutelsat's decision to pursue a local market alternative.

Viasat President and Chief Operating Officer Rick Baldridge released the following statement: "Viasat remains excited about its ViaSat-3 program for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), which is well underway and on track. The Company believes there is significant interest in the ViaSat-3 program from prospective regional partners, as ViaSat-3 is expected to be the highest capacity communications satellite system in the world when it launches. The ViaSat-3 satellite for EMEA is expected to serve more than 1 Terabit per second (Tbps) of total network capacity to meet the growing broadband needs of residential, commercial aviation, maritime, enterprise and government sectors."

Vericom Global Solutions, a global manufacturer of data, voice, video and security solutions, that provides an unparalleled combination of value and performance for customers, has announced an expansion to their United States operations with the opening of a new office location in Denver, Colorado.

Viasat announced it officially opened new offices in Austin, Texas; Seattle, Washington; and Amsterdam, Netherlands. The new offices aim to drive innovation across a number of technical and engineering disciplines by leveraging the talented candidate pools in the local regions.

ViaSat Inc., a global communications company, announced today the ViaSat-2 satellite has successfully arrived in geostationary orbit at 69.9° west longitude, and has transitioned into orbit normal mode (earth pointing) with its reflector and radiator deployments now complete. The Company also confirmed the ViaSat-2 satellite has commenced in-orbit testing, including the key milestone of the first end-to-end system test, with the ViaSat-2 satellite transmitting and receiving data to and from the new Viasat ground segment. 

Viasat Inc., a global communications company, today unveiled its new strategic, global brand identity. As part of the new identity, Viasat has consolidated its key sub-brands - including Exede™ consumer internet, Yonder™ Ku-band aviation service, among others - under one Viasat master brand. The Company also introduced a new logo and visual identity system.

ViaSat announced it has expanded its relationship with JetBlue, and will serve as the direct in-flight internet service provider to the airline.  JetBlue aircraft will be upgraded to the latest ViaSat hardware, and will have access to the additional coverage and capacity offered by ViaSat's next-generation ViaSat-2 and ViaSat-3 satellite platforms. 

PerfectVision Manufacturing, Inc. announces the launch of Perfect Home Solutions?.  This new product portfolio is designed to position dealers to maximize profitability with connected home products. In return, dealers will be able to capitalize on the explosive growth of Smart Home Devices

The SBCA recently attended the Wyoming Broadband Summit and while attending Mr. Hill was invited to discuss broadband briefly with Mr. Pinto of K2TV.com.  The interview aired on October 19, 2016 on K2TV.com's News at 5.  

Ms.Janet Adkison of RFD-TV interviews SBCA President, Mr. Steve Hill about recent satellite launches and current satellite broadband initiatives. 

Mr. Mark Oppold of Market Day Report on RFD-TV interviews SBCA President, Mr. Steve Hill, about the SBCA and the benefits that satellite broadband brings to rural communities.  

AT&T Fixed Wireless Internet is now available to residents and small businesses in 9 new states.  This rollout, now in 18 states, began earlier this year and is part of their FCC Connect America Fund commitment. 

ViaSat Inc. has completed the Critical Design Review (CDR) milestones for the ViaSat-3 class spacecraft.  The payload CDR was successfully completed last week, and when combined with the successful bus CDR, conducted with Boeing in mid-August, ViaSat and Boeing are now moving forward with building, integrating and testing the first two satellites. 

AT&T offers the best of Italy on DIRECTV with the launch of Mediaset Italia. One of Italy’s top-rated entertainment channels, Mediaset Italia is available to any new or existing DIRECTV customer a la carte for $10 a month with eligible base package.

PerfectVision Manufacturing, Inc. is receiving the 2016 AT&T Supplier Sustainability Award in the "Resource Improvement" category.   The company is being recognized for developing a reusable cable dispenser that reduced cable usage by 15% and helped AT&T realize large material savings.  

ViaSat, a global broadband services and technology company, today announced long-time airline partner, El Al Israel Airlines, has selected the ViaSat in-flight internet system to power the Airline's high-speed onboard Wi-Fi experience across all of its new Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft.  

ViaSat, a global broadband services and technology company, today announced the opening of its new Asia-Pacific (APAC) headquarters, located in Melbourne, Australia.  The office was opened today by ViaSat's Peter Girvan, Vice President, APAC, with distinguished guests in attendance, including Minister for Small Business, Innovation and Trade Philip Dalidakis, and representatives from key regional customers and partners.  

Hughes Network Systems, LLC has signed a contract with Space Systems Loral to build its next-generation JUPTER™ 3 Ultra High Density Satellite (UHDS), to be designated EchoStar XXIV.  The new satellite is targeted at key markets across the Americas and will more than double the Hughes Ka-band capacity in the region.  Powered by the next-generation JUPITER Systems, the new satellite will enable significant increases in service performance, with speeds of 100 Mbps.  

Competitors are trying to derail SpaceX's plans to deliver broadband service to hard-to-reach areas via satellite, asking regulators to rebuff the company's request for waivers of certain deadlines. They also want the Federal Communications Commission to put off a decision until the agency can review how SpaceX will avoid interfering with other satellite signals. Space Intel Report (France) (7/17)