Vol 6 No. 5Vol 6 No 5Vol. 7 No. 8 2018

By Marcel Dischinger

Vol 6 No. 5Vol 6 No 5Vol. 7 No. 17 2019May

Bangladesh emerged 57th space nation in

AFRICA

Big Brother or Big Brothel?The new face of reality TV show in Africa

C O N T E N T SVol. 7 No. 17

Editor in-chief Aliyu BelloExecutive Manager Tonia GerraldSA to the editor in-Chief Ngozi OkeyHead, Application Services M. YakubuEditorial/ICT Services John Daniel

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Client Relations Sunday TacheLookman BelloSafiya Thani

Marketing Offy PatTunde NathanielWasiu Olatunde

Media Relations Favour MaduKhadijat YakubuZacheous Felicia

Finance Folarin Tunde

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1

Nigeria

Thinking outside the Set-Top Box

Broadpeak appoints Jean-Claude Sachot as New Business Development Director

Idris Musa appointed NOSDRA’s chief executive

South Africa and the birth of M-net

Arabsat 6A successfully launched

AfricaOnline launches high-speed broadband Satellite service on Avanti's HYLAS 4

UAE's Mars probe on track for July 2020 launch

SES reach grows to 355 million homes worldwide

WRC’19: Battles lying ahead

Big Brother or Big Brothel?The new face of reality TV show in Africa

Bangladesh emerged 57th nation in space

Agenda for WRC’19

Salvaging Intelsat 29e

Sport 24 Extra launches live inflight Esports

Saudi Arabia partners Arab coalition on space exploration

O3b satellites roar into space, scaling SES's MEO constellation

Minister orders completion of AIT lab in Nigeria

5

Editorial

In December 1984, the South African government started accepting applications for pay television licenses. Koos Bekker, a former CEO of Naspers, seized the opportunity and linked up with South African media companies wanting a piece of the action. A new company, Electronic Media Network Limited, or M-Net was born. The early M-Net team overcame political and financing hurdles, but needed technology solutions for their venture. Enter Jock Anderson of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC). Jock joined Jac van der Merwe and Antonie Roux of de Nasionale Pers (now Naspers) on the technology mission required to launch South Africa's first pay television station.

Jac wasted no time. He took Jock, Antonie and two other consultants on a bold quest across Holland,where Pieter and his engineers were developing a European version of Oak's technology. With some modifications, it would be perfect for South Africa. So the M-Net team purchased the rights to the technology, the engineers got to work – and a new era began..

With his strong background in broadcasting, Jock became a leading technical force in Naspers. Based in South Africa, his key role was to make Naspers' pay TV operations digital. That analog-to-digital transition propelled the team into becoming the first company in the world to offer a complete digital pay television solution. South Africa's MultiChoice continues to be a pioneer force that helps shape the TV industry.As Irdeto expanded, the television industry a s a w h o l e w a s u n d e r g o i n g a transformation: the dawn of the digital age. In 1991, broadcasters, manufacturers and regulatory bodies in Europe met to discuss the impending introduction of digital TV. This group became known as the European Launching Group (ELG). They defined the concepts, systems and standards that would guide the transition from analogue to digital in the years to come.

In 1993, they finalized this new set of regulations, and the Digital Video Broadcasting Project (DVB) was born. One of the many technology standards set by the DVB was the use of MPEG for coding the audio-visual data into a compressed digital format. Irdeto jumped at the chance to lead the digital revolution. During their 1992 User Group meeting in Venice, it was decided that companies such as M-Net turn their focus to digital compression technology.

They dug in to this new challenge with great enthusiasm. In 1993, the company set up a team to research digital technology, looking particularly at MPEG and the best way to secure it. They explored the option of using a conditional access system with a smart

card. In the late 80s, conditional access (CA) was a fairly new term meaning that television broadcasts could only be viewed by legitimate subscribers with a suitable decoder. CA systems typically consist of a head-end control system, set-top box client software and a smart card. They often use both scrambling and encryption to prevent unauthorized users from getting access to the service.In addition, smart cards were also introduced with proven potential. In very simple terms, they are credit card-sized devices that contain small chips for processing data. Smart cards were first used commercially in 1983 by Télécarte in France; replacing coins for pay phone calls.

Smart cards qu ick ly found other applications, including debit cards and SIM cards in mobile phones. By the early nineties, smart cards had debuted in Europe's pay television industry. Innovators like the UK's BSkyB used VideoCrypt technology to control access to their satellite broadcasts.Irdeto had a viable digital solution and was on the brink of being the first in the world to deploy it. Long-time partner M-Net in South Africa was picked for the first digital launch and resources were accordingly re-directed. At the same time, Irdeto was also adapting the digital technology for other regions including Italy and Thailand. The South Africans prepared to launch services on the PAS 4 satellite for beaming down broadcasts. The satellite launch was scheduled for June 1995, with service commercially available soon after. Everything seemed to be on track until they hit a serious bump in the road. The satellite was grounded until August.

With progress in South Africa stalled, Irdeto was left with incredibly advanced technology they could not deploy. Time for plan b… a brand new territory, Australia. Australia's Media's pay TV subsidiary, Galaxy, had just launched a few months earlier, broadcasting eight channels using analog cable technology. With the world's first digital launch successfully completed, Irdeto turned their attention back to existing clients, including M-Net. The PAS 4 satellite was finally launched into orbit in August 1995. Irdeto wasted no time. Only one month after the debut of digital in Australia, South Africa had digital pay TV, too, with the introduction M-Net's digital satellite TV service, DStv, in October 1995. Within a single decade one provider, MultiChoice has become the preeminent content carrier in Anglophone AfricaThe first transnational joint venture was entered into with Namibia in 1993. This was the beginning of DSTV, a subsidiary of MultiChoice.

That year, the transmission moved to PAS7 satellite and in 2000 the launch of the Eutelsat W4 satellite opened up the Ku-band services to sub-Saharan African and the Indian Ocean Islands. The year also heralded the launch of Indian and Portuguese bouquets on the DSTV satellite service in southern Africa.

From that point on, Irdeto took digital to markets worldwide in rapid-fire succession. Through the M-Net company Multichoice, Irdeto introduced digital pay TV across Europe in 1996, including the Benelux, the Nordic countries and Central Europe.

Irdeto's area of expertise was securing terrestrial, cable, satellite or digital broadcasts for television. But the introduction of Internet protocol television (IPTV) meant that content was no longer confined to the television set.

In addition to TVs, consumers wanted on-demand content on their computers, mobile phones, and gaming consoles – and providers wanted to secure it. IPTV also offered new interactive services for pay TV subscribers, such as Video on Demand (VOD). The personal video recorder (PVR) allowed subscribers record live programs to watch at a later time. In addition, providers bundled IPTV with other IP-based services like high speed Internet access and telephone services (Voice over Internet Protocol or VoIP).The technology behind IPTV had already been available for years, but companies were hesitant to adopt it because they had no way to protect the broadcasts from being intercepted. In 2000, Irdeto offered a solution to this problem. Using CypherCast, content was encrypted during broadcast. Only users with a set-top box and corresponding smart cards would be able to view it. Clients could easily manage user rights with software that ran on a Windows platform. It was these early engagements that shaped technology in the IP area going forward.

Now that consumers were ready to watch TV outside their living rooms, mobile phones became the next pay TV target. And in keeping with Irdeto history, every new technology project seemed to indicate a launch in a new geography. This time it was South Korea. TU Media was established in 2003 in South Korea. A consortium of mobile operators, device manufacturers, and other industry players, TU Media oversaw the country's mobile broadcasting industry. They were the world's first company to decide to offer a paid mobile TV service via S-DMB (Satellite Digital Multimedia Broadcasting).

Thinking outside the Set-Top-Box

Broadpeak appoints Jean-Claude Sachot as New Business Development Director

Astroscale Founder and CEO Nobu Okada joins SGAC Advisory Board

The Space Generation Advisory Council (SGAC) in Support of the United Nations Programme on Space Applications is pleased to announce that Mr. Nobu Okada, Founder and CEO of Astroscale Holdings Inc., has officially become member of the SGAC Advisory Council.

Nobu founded Astroscale in Singapore in 2013 due to a strong desire to address the growing threat of space debris. He used his

Broadpeak has appointed of Jean-Claude Sachot as the company's new business development director. In his role at Broadpeak, Sachot will work with global pay-TV operators, helping them take advantage of the company's unique solutions, such as t h e a w a r d - w i n n i n g n a n o C D N ™ multicastABR, for providing cloud DVR services as well as delivering live and VOD streaming services at scale with minimal latency.

" J e a n - C l a u d e h a s a n e x t e n s i v e understanding of the broadcast media technology sector," said Jacques Le Mancq, CEO at Broadpeak. "Through his various positions within Technicolor over the last 20 years, Jean-Claude has worked with some of the largest pay-TV operators around the world as they implemented innovative, f u t u r e - f o r w a r d t e c h n o l o g i e s . H i s comprehensive knowledge of the pay-TV ecosystem, so lut ions, and st rong relationships with operators is unique and will be invaluable to driving Broadpeak's global business growth.”

"I'm thrilled to join the team at Broadpeak, a world-renowned technology innovator that I've had the pleasure of partnering with during my previous positions at Technicolor," said Sachot. "Broadpeak not only has an outstanding portfolio of products and solutions that perfectly address pay-TV operators' needs today, but also a vision that positions the company as an undisputed leader of tomorrow.”

Sachot has more than 30 years of experience in digital video processing and delivery, with strong engineering expertise and business acumen. Prior to working at Broadpeak, Sachot was the vice president of pre-sales — video CPEs at Technicolor. He has a bachelor's degree in electrical and electronics engineering and a master's degree in science and technology from the University of Nantes, France. He has also attended a Thomson Leadership Program at the Harvard Business School.

personal funds as seed money and hired a team in Singapore in 2013 and opened an R&D office in Japan in 2015, a UK office in 2017, and a US office in 2019 whilst raising US $132M USD capital. The team call themselves, “Space Sweepers” and their mission is to secure long-term space flight safety by developing space debris removal technologies.

The Space Generation Advisory Council in Support of the United Nations Programme on Space Applications is a global non-governmental, non-profit (US 501(c)3) organisation and network which aims to represent university students and young space professionals ages 18-35 to the United Nations, space agencies, industry, and academia. Headquartered in Vienna, Austria, the SGAC network of members, volunteers and alumni has grown to more than 15 000 members representing more than 150 countries

Nobu is a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society and is also a member of The Future of Space Technologies Council, World Economic Forum and International Astronautical Federation. He also served as a member of the Subcommittee on Space Civil Use, and Space Industry at the Cabinet Office for the Government of Japan. Nobu won the Forbes JAPAN “Start-up of The Year 2019” and was listed as Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum in 2017.

Astroscale is one of the few companies in the world proposing to aid in the removal of orbital debris through the provision of End of Life (EOL) and Active Debris Removal (ADR) services. In addition to providing a technical solution, Astroscale is helping to define the business case for this service and are working with national space agencies, international institutions, non-profit organizations, insurance companies and satellite operators to develop norms, regulations and incentives that contribute to the responsible use of space.

Prior to Astroscale, Nobu was an IT entrepreneur and strategy consultant, and had managed IT companies in Japan, China, India and Singapore. He led one company to a successful IPO.

Before joining the IT industry, he worked for McKinsey & Company and the Japanese Government in the Ministry of Finance. He earned his bachelor's degree in Agriculture from the University of Tokyo in 1995 and an MBA from the Krannert School of Business, Purdue University in 2001.When he was a teenager, Nobu attended a camp at NASA's Marshall Space Flight

Center in the United States where he met Japan's first astronaut, Mamoru Mohri. He received the handwritten message, “Space is waiting for your challenge.” and he has been inspired to work on space ever since.

Idris Musa appointed NOSDRA’s chief executive

Idris Musa, the erstwhile Director of oil spill prevention and control department of the Nigeria Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency has been appointed the chief executive of the government agency.

An intellectual of high repute, Idris replaces Mr.Peter Idahor, who until recently has been chief executive for eight years. Mr Idris is a pioneer Director of the agency whose contributions have placed the agency as a leading institutions amongst her peers in the industry.

Idris Musa promised to support g o v e r n m e n t p o l i c i e s i n t h e environmental pollution management while adopting the best scientific method to compel oil and gas companies operating in Nigeria to clean up the oil Spill in the Niger Delta area. The National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) was es tab l i shed in 1999 w i th the responsibility of controlling and managing oil spill in the Niger Delta, and supervising the oil companies in their duties to oil bearing communities such as cleaning-up of spills and paying adequate compensation to victims of oil-spills for damages caused.

In Nigeria, Oil-spillage is an age old problem which requires immediate positive response to handle. The oil companies have invested millions of Naira/Dollars in technology to extract oil from the Niger Delta, but have often been accused of refusing to commit money to control incessant spills, and in the development of their host communities. To curb this menace, government established several agencies and put in place policies to control the environment and manage oil-spills.

According to officials, the IOCs often hide under the excuse that Nigeria has too many regulators to abdicate their responsibilities, when in actual fact the bulk of oil spill management stops at NOSDRA's table since its establishment in 1999.

The task before the new chief executive is to promote synergy and alignment between the Department of Petroleum Resources (DRP) and NOSDRA for prompt response to spill in the Niger

APOINTMENTS

Source: Airbus Defence and Space

Adewale Adeyipo

Libby Barr

Prof Seidu Mohammed

In the 1980s, South Africa was an unlikely place to start an innovative media company with international interests. The country had long been ruled by apartheid, a political system enforcing racial segregation. Now much of the international business community was boycotting South African products and services. Prime Minster P.W. Botha complicated matters in August 1985 with his infamous Rubicon Speech, in which he reconfirmed his government's stance on apartheid. The value of the Rand plummeted, putting South Africa in an even more trying position. For decades, television broadcasting was banned in South Africa, as the government feared its possible influence on its citizens. In response to strong public demand, the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) was finally allowed to offer a television service, with experimental broadcasts in major cities in mid-1975 and nationwide service commencing from January 1976.

Initially, the single public television channel was funded through a license fee. Advertising began in 1978. By 1981, SABC started broadcasting a second channel with programming in African languages such as Xhosa, Sotho and Tswana. The first channel, then called TV1, offered English and Afrikaans programming. As the popularity of television in South Africa skyrocketed, newspaper publishers felt the pinch of

revenue loss because television was taking a larger cut of advertisers' budgets. So publishers lobbied the authorities for the right to set up a pay television station – both to challenge the perceived monopoly held by SABC and to win back a share of the advertising spend.

First established in 1915, de Nasionale Pers (currently known as Naspers) was the leading Afrikaans-language publishing group in South Africa by the early 1980s. Like other South African publishing houses, they recognized the need for television – as a tool for boosting revenue streams and branching out into newer forms of media.

So they quickly assembled a team to investigate opportunities in pay television. The initial team consisted of Koos Bekker, Jac van der Merwe and Antonie Roux of de Nasionale Pers, joined by Cobus Stofberg of Coopers & Lybrand and Jock Anderson of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC). Their new company, a subsidiary of de Nasionale Pers, was named Electronic Media Network Limited, or M-Net. When the South African government started accepting applications for pay television licenses in December 1984, the M-Net team hit the ground running. To

De Nasionale Pers

make their pay television station a reality, M-Net jumped the necessary political hurdles and secured the financing. But they were still missing one key element – the right technology.

In his pursuit of the missing component, Jac van der Merwe quickly organized a whirlwind tour across the USA with Jock Anderson, Antonie Roux and consultants Willem Smit and Bob Mierhorst. The M-Net team found two potential technology suppliers. Negotiations with their first choice quickly came to a halt because of boycotting. This left them with just one potential supplier – Oak Technologies, a California-based firm which had developed an analogue scrambling technology.

Seeking the right technology

South Africa and the birth of M-netSPECIAL FEATURE

On the surface, Oak Technologies was a less than ideal option. The company had recently decided to scale down the communications side of their business and explore more profitable markets. Oak was willing to provide the technology, but would not support customization or after-sales service. Also, Oak's technology was only available in NTSC (the standard US television format), and the M-Net team needed to convert it to PAL (the standard European and African television format). To help out with the conversion, Oak recommended Pieter den Toonder, the founder of Irdeto. Pieter had consulted for Oak in the past, and was already busy in the Netherlands, modifying the system for European standards. A decision was quickly made that would shape the future of both M-Net and Irdeto. M-Net purchased the rights to Oak's technology, and Pieter customized it for the South African market.

Back in South Africa, Jock Anderson assembled a team of engineers, who relocated to Dordrecht in the Netherlands to learn about the technology and develop decoder prototypes under Pieter's tutelage. M-Net had just one year to launch their new television operation, so Pieter and the M-Net team traveled back and forth – between Holland the South Africa – to get the job done. Once the prototypes were ready, it was time to begin manufacturing the decoders. During the final negotiations between Pieter, M-Net and Oak, Jock Anderson was called away by an urgent message. Back home in South Africa, his pregnant wife had gone into labor. Or so they thought. Baby Julie was born a week later, and the production of the first decoders was named Project Julie in her honor.

The hard work, travel and risk-taking paid off. M-Net, South Africa's first private subscription television service, went live in October 1986 with one 12-hour channel. This was a truly revolutionary moment in South African history. As the country's first pay TV network, M-Net offered an alternative to state-ontrolled SABC programming and gave South Africans a broader view of the outside world.

Despite the historical significance of M-Net's launch, the company struggled to turn a profit in the early years. The tide turned in April 1987. One boxing match featuring two of the world's best (and black) fighters got South Africans lining up to subscribe to pay TV. M-Net broadcast the fight between Marvin Hagler and Sugar Ray Leonard live from Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. M-Net sold out of decoders countrywide and quickly grew to a total of 90,000 subscribers. M-Net continued to push the limits of TV.programming in South Africa. As part of their licensing agreement, they were forbidden to broadcast news programs – a privilege allowed only to SABC. But in 1988, M-Net bravely started broadcasting “Carte Blanche,”

Building south Africa's first pay TV operation

Pay TV hits South African airwaves

a current affairs program. The program quickly gained popularity by offering South Africans their first look at unbiased investigative reporting.

M-Net was growing fast. They realized that their expertise – combined with Irdeto's technology – was a winning team. So they sought out new business opportunities in the United Kingdom and New Zealand, without much success. Then Pieter contacted M-Net with a lead on a project. Media legislation was changing in Italy. So Fininvest, a company run by media magnate Silvio Berlusconi, decided to set up a pay television system called Telepiù. Once again, the only thing they needed was technology - the ideal opportunity for Irdeto and M-Net.

Jac van der Merwe and Antonie Roux joined Pieter in Italy to negotiate an agreement, and the M-Net

team forged ahead to make this new project a success – this time traveling back and forth between two continents and three countries. To mastermind the new support operation, Jac settled permanently in Dordrecht. Under his guidance, the Irdeto team toiled for months to ensure that the Italian system would be operational on time. They set up a project office in Milan, and Antonie moved to Italy with his team of five, working to implement the systems there. The hardware team worked from Johannesburg, and was soon joined by Italian business analysts and developers.All the long hours and travel and hard work finally paid off. Telepiù successfully launched in November

1991 – a major breakthrough for Irdeto. Suddenly Pieter den Toonder's little company had a high profile, and was gaining credibility in the market. And M-Net was seen as a legitimate player in the European market.

Pieter den Toonder's retirement was long overdue – having been postponed several t imes in the exc i tement o f new opportunities. Now Jac van der Merwe, Antonie Roux and Jock Anderson became the driving forces behind Irdeto's success. Along with other former M-Net executives, they moved to the Netherlands, as M-Net, FilmNet and NetHold took over Irdeto. M-Net grew into thriving television network, broadcasting to subscribers in 41 countries across Africa.

The original founders went on to have ambitious careers within the media industry, with Cobus Stofberg, Antonie Roux and Koos Bekker holding executive positions

To Italy and beyond

Protecting Naspers content

within various divisions of the Naspers group.

Jac van der Merwe accepted a position at Naspers owned NetHold. Tragically, he was killed in a plane crash in the French Alps on his way back from a business trip in Cannes in 1994 – a painful loss that was felt for many years. In his honor, M-Net sponsors the Jac van der Merwe Competition for Innovation award at Jac's alma mater, Stellenbosch University, which is granted to engineering students whose work reflect Jac's pioneering spirit. Jock Anderson became a CTO and consultant for the media and telecommunications industries. And Irdeto technology remained an essential link in the Naspers family – the key to protecting all the content of this leading multinational media group.

With the world's first digital launch successfully completed, Irdeto turned their attention back to existing clients, including M-Net. The South African satellite was finally launched into orbit in August 1995. Irdeto wasted no time. Only one month after the debut of digital in Australia, South Africa had digital pay TV, too, with the introduction M-Net's digital satellite TV service, DStv, in October 1995. From that point on, Irdeto took digital to markets worldwide in rapid-fire succession. Through the M-Net company Multichoice, Irdeto introduced digital pay TV across Europe in 1996, including the Benelux, the Nordic countries and Central Europe. Telepiù launched their digital service in Italy in September 1996. Irdeto also helped Thailand's Shinawatra launch their digital service.

The first digital pay TV launches were major achievements. Now that Irdeto was recognized as the industry leader, they needed to keep innovating to maintain that position. So Irdeto spent the next decade improving and expanding their digital capabilities. They first went to work improving their conditional access system (CAS). Ongoing innovations led to three updated versions of this CAS - called System 2000, 3000 and 4000 of course! CAS evolved further into two distinct new systems: M-Crypt and PIsys. Released in 1998, M-Crypt was a compact conditional access system targeted at smaller clients and niche content providers in the cable, satellite, and terrestrial arenas. The system operated on a Windows platform, and was very easy to set up and maintain. PIsys – launched in 2002 – was developed for large-scale conditional access solutions, and could be adapted for between 500,000 and 32 million subscribers. It was also modular – additional features could easily be added, as required by the client.

Digital goes global

SPECIAL FEATURE

short duration missions, to assess the suitability of existing allocations to the space operation service and, if necessary, to consider new allocations.

Accordingly, resolution 659 WRC-15 called for study of the spectrum needs for telemetry, tracking and command in the space operation service for non-GSO satellites with short duration missions, to assess the suitability of existing allocations to the space operation service and, if necessary, to consider new allocations within the frequency ranges 150.05-174 MHz and 400.15-420 MHZ.Industry players however, did recognises the need for viable solution for non-geostationary orbit satellites missions, however none of the methods contained in draft CPM text provides a solution that is acceptable on a global level.

The satellite industry does not support Methods B1/B2 due to the large number of radiosondes that operate in the frequency range 403-406 MHz and their susceptibility to harmful interference by the non-geostationary orbit satellites missions, as evidenced in the Working Party 7B sharing studies.

While mobile industry players have continued to demand for frequency bands for the development of International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT), including possible additional allocations to the mobile service on a primary basis, the position of the satellite industry remains that no new allocation and identification of spectrum to support mobile broadband systems (IMT-2020) should be made in or adjacent to bands allocated to space science services unless acceptable criteria and mandatory conditions are developed and implemented that ensure the protection and future usability of the concerned bands by those services. The industry players does not support consideration of any frequency

“No new allocation of spectrum to support mobile

broadband systems should be made in

or adjacent to bands allocated to space science services”.

band that is not included in the list of potential candidate bands as identified in Resolution 238 (WRC-15).

In addition, the implementation of International Mobile Telecommunications in the frequency bands 1 885-2 025 MHz and 2 110- 2 200 MHz is still subject to the study of measures to ensure compatibility between the Mobile Satellite Services and IMT networks. One of these bands is adjacent to the downlink band 2 200-2 290 MHz which is widely used by the space science services.

However, satellite operators are worried of any potential outcomes that could degrade the use of the 2200-2290 MHz and 2025-2110 MHz bands by the space science services, and likewise, unwanted emissions by fixed-satellite services may in turn interfere with terrestrial IMT and satellite-based IMT (MSS) in the 1885- 2025 MHZ band.

The industry is concerned that the current operational specifications for IMT-2020 indicate that the IMT-2020 systems will be unable to comply with the unwanted emission levels determined in the studies. It is therefore of the view that an IMT allocation or identification should not be made unless the proponents of IMT-2020 clearly demonstrate the ability to comply with the needed unwanted emission limits to ensure the protection of the EESS.

The conference is also expected to consider the report of the study on the identification of frequency bands for use by administrations for the land-mobile and fixed services applications operating in the frequency range 275-450 GHz, in accordance with Resolution 767 WRC-15.

While resolution 767 WRC-15 calls for sharing and compatibil ity studies regarding the introduction of land-mobile and fixed services into the frequency range 275-450 GHz. Satellite industry players contends that no actual allocations should be made to any service above 275 GHz at WRC-19.

The forthcoming WRC is the 2019 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-19). The WRC-19 will be held from 28 October to 22 November 2019 and shall be preceded by the Radiocommunication Assembly 2019 from 21 to 25 October 2019 in in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.

Eutelsat.teleport (Source: Eutelsat)

The debate on the future of connectivity across Africa has once again taken center stage at various symposia and conferences organized by the African Telecommunications Union, ATU to enable Africa adopt a system that would allow the continent speak with one voice and learn from past experiences to avoid repeat of past mistakes.

In the last three years, the ATU has organized several workshops and meetings on areas of interest to the region and contributed significantly to the final conclusions of the conferences held under the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).

While the conferences are ongoing, the satellite industry players are concerned with the effective use and management of those radio frequency bands that are allocated by the Radio Regulations (RR) of the ITU to the Space Research, Space Operations, Earth Exploration Satellite, and Meteorological Satellite services, and thus promotes spectrum efficiency and recognizes the need for and the value of sharing frequency bands between more than one radio service, in cases where mutually agreed sharing and protection criteria have been established based upon the results of ITU-R studies.

In particular, the satellite industry attaches a strong importance to the protection of frequency bands used by space-based passive sensors to provide vital ecological and environmental data that is unobtainable by any other means. The successful operation of these passive sensors depends on the use of specific frequency bands that are defined by physical laws.

In accordance with Resolution 236 of the WRC-15, the conference at its plenary resolve to take necessary actions, as appropriate, to facilitate global or regional harmonized frequency bands to support railway radiocommunication systems between train and track side within existing mobile service allocations.

The result of the ITU-R studies to be unveiled later this year is expected to facilitate the identification and allocation of appropriate spectrum. However, the satellite industry supports the protection of existing allocations of space science services, and where there is no consensus on frequency bands after a study, industry players will monitor this agenda item at this time. Of particular concern is the potential for interference in the passive bands 86-92 GHz and 100-102 Ghz.

The WRC'19 conference will also adopt the result of the study relating to spectrum needs for telemetry, tracking and command in the space operation service for non-GSO satellites with

MARKET REPORT

Agenda for WRC’19

In order to adequately prepare for WRC’19, African Telecommunication Union has held four African preparatory meetings based on proposals from the Regional Economic Communities in Africa, according to this report.

T h e W o r l d Te l e p o r t A s s o c i a t i o n ( W T A ) announced that Etisalat has a c h i e v e d T i e r 4 f u l l certification of its Tawi Al Saman Teleport under WTA's Te l e p o r t C e r t i f i c a t i o n Program. Etisalat becomes the first in MENA region to achieve WTA Tier 4 Full Certification and brings up the number of Tier 4 fully certified teleports around the world to 12. Since its introduction at International Broadcasting Convention 2015 , the ce r t i f i ca t ion program has quickly grown in popularity. Starting with one certified facility in 2015, the program has added more than 40 in 3 years, and currently has 10 teleports engaged in the quality evaluation process. The industry has quickly adopted the transparent, i n d e p e n d e n t l y v e r i f i e d standards as a means for teleports to differentiate themselves and for customers t o c h o o s e t h e p r i c e -performance level suitable for their applications.

Ali Amiri, Group Chief Carrier & Wholesale Officer, Etisalat, said: “We are delighted to be

awarded the Tier 4 WTA Full Certification for our teleport, an important indicator to our prospective and existing customers demonstrating the crucial importance of quality and security in our daily operations. At Etisalat, we take great pride in our facility and the high quality level of services we provide to our respected clients from all around the world.”

Full Certification under the WTA program is the result of a comprehensive data-collection and inspection process. A teleport operator completes a +170-item questionnaire and submits it to WTA. The association analyses the data based on standards established by its certification committee and issues the Provisional Certification based on the self-reported information. The teleport has six months to achieve Full Certification.

To achieve Full Certification under WTA's program, an auditor is dispatched to visit t he te lepo r t , p rov ide independent validation of the data submitted in the questionnaire, and identify

additional factors that may positively or negatively affect the score. Full Certification is issued at a Tier number from 1 through 4, of which 4 represents the highest degree of excellence, and remains in effect for 3 years. “I congratulate Etisalat on meeting the standards for Tier 4 Certification,” said executive director Robert Bell. “Our eva lua t ion has proved challenging for even the best designed and operated facilities, as we detailed in our r e c e n t r e p o r t , H i g h P e r f o r m a n c e : S e r v i c e Continuity. Certification at this l eve l g i ves cus tomers confidence in the technical and operational quality of their service provider.”

Certifications have been issued to teleports operated by Eutelsat, du, COMSAT, S i g n a l h o r n , O p t u s , Globecomm, Horizon, Media Broadcast Satellite, Elara Comunicaciones, GlobalSat, Talia, Telenor, Vivacom, Cyta, STN, SingTel, CETel, Etisalat, Hawaii Pacific Teleport, I n t e l s a t , S p e e d c a s t , Telespazio, Telstra, AXESAT and Arqiva.

IN THE NEWS

Arabsat 6A successfully launched

Arabsat 6A Satellite, the last of its 6th generation satellites, has successfully been launched this morning by Falcon Heavy, from Cape Canaveral in Florida, USA. The Falcon-Heavy rocket was launched, carrying Arabsat 6A satellite, manufactured by Lockheed Martin, to be placed in the exclusive orbit of Arabsat 30.5 degrees East.

Founded in 1976 by the 21 member-states of the Arab League, Arabsat has been serving the growing needs of the Arab world for over 30 years. Now one of the world's top satellite operators, and by far the leading satellite services provider in the Arab world, Arabsat carries over 500 TV channels over 200 radio stations, two pay-TV networks and a wide selection of HD channels reaching tens of millions of homes in more than 100 countries across the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Central Asia--including an audience of over 170 million viewers within the 21 Arab countries alone.Khaled bin Ahmed Balkheyour president & CEO of Arabsat , at Cape Canaveral air force base, stated "We are thankful for 6A satellite launch success as it was challenging for us and SpaceX because it is the first largest and heaviest satellite lifted by SpaceX on the most powerful rocket in operation today, the Falcon Heavy, which was designed specifically to launch such a load commercially, that is why this launch is considered a momentous leap in the field of commercial satellites manufacturing and launching." " A r a b s a t - 6 A i s a h i g h - c a p a c i t y telecommunications satellite that will deliver television, radio, Internet, and mobile communications to customers in the Middle East, Africa, and Europe. Built by Lockheed Martin, Arabsat 6A is the largest and most powerful commercial satellite Lockheed martin has ever produced.

The modernized LM 2100 includes several innovations that make the satellite more powerful, more flexible and more versatile in orbit. Arabsat 6A provides advanced Ka-spot beam communications services and Ku and Ka-band coverages in addition to other frequency bands. It will be located at Arabsat exclusive orbital position 30.5 , supporting Arabsat competitiveness, as the first satellite operator in the region, in respect to its capabilities and satellite broadcasting services,” Added Balkheyour.

"Arabsat success during the past two months ,the launch of HS4 satellite at 39 degrees East for Hellas Sat, one of Arabsat subsidiary, last February and this success today , could not have been possible without the help of the hard working young Arab engineers from Arabsat headquarter and its two ground stations in Riyadh and Tunisia, where those satellites are operated and controlled. Those young engineers who were fully involved in the design of these satellites and the supervision of the manufacturing stages, we owe them all thanks and praise."

Af r i caOn l i ne , one o f Ghana's oldest ISPs and a Gondwana International Networks (GIN) subsidiary, has announced the launch of its new JOLA service, a high-speed broadband satellite service powered by Avanti's HYLAS 4 satellite that offers 100% coverage of Ghana through multiple spot beams. Making the announcement to business leaders and media at a launch event in Accra, Foster Plender, Managing Director for AfricaOnline Ghana said, “We are proud to be the first to launch the Avanti HYLAS 4 service in Ghana. Our rigorous testing over the past few months has given us the confidence that our customers will be very satisfied with the

quality of service and speeds of up to 35Mbps download”.The JOLA service has 100% coverage of Ghana so even the remotest l o c a t i o n c a n b e connected. Whilst perfect for remote areas, Plender also highlighted the use case for high-speed satellite as a business continuity service in urban areas too. The launch of the Ka-Band JOLA service in Ghana opens up new o p p o r t u n i t i e s f o r d e l i v e r i n g o n development goals of the nation by ensuring many more sectors of the population becoming connected. P l e n d e r p r e s e n t e d

examples from across the GIN group of Ka-Band JOLA solutions meeting the needs of rural judiciary courts, a g r i c u l t u r e s e r v i c e s , eLearning initiatives, remote hospitality lodges, micro-finance institutions and C C T V a n d Machine2Machine (M2M) applications for construction and national manufacturing plants.GIN through its subsidiary, iWayAfrica, has partnered with Avanti since 2014 for the rollout of high-speed satellite services in Southern & Eastern Africa. In August 2018, the group was granted Master Distributor status for its new service on the latest satellite, HYLAS 4 with new market focus on West and Central Africa.

AfricaOnline launches high-speed broadband Satellite service on Avanti's HYLAS 4

Etisalat achieves tier 4 full certification from the World Teleport Association

The UAE Space Agency and Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) announced that 85 per cent of the Hope Probe project has been completed. In a joint statement, the two organisations confirmed that most of the main parts of the project have been completed and are currently undergo ing i n tens i ve testing to ensure every aspect of the Probe is ready for activation a few months before the launch date.

The Probe has already entered an intensive testing phase to ensu re i t s readiness before the launch date, with less than 500 days are remaining for the launch. It is planned to reach Mars by 2021, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the founding of the UAE.

Several aspects related to the design, assembly of the structure, cameras and control have been verified. So far, the Probe's systems and components, as well as its ability to communicate with the ground station have been checked by the team. The Probe has succeeded in all the tests it has been subject to so far, ahead of the five environmental tests to be conducted on the p r o b e f r o m J u n e t o December 2019.

The scientific devices the probe w i l l be us ing , including The Emirates

eXploration imager (EXI), Emirates Mars Ultraviolet Spectrometer (EMUS), and the Emirates Mars Infrared Spectrometer (EMIRS), are ready. The EMUS has been successfully mounted on the Probe.

These devices are key to achieving the objectives of the scientific mission, which is a deeper and wider understanding of the Martian atmosphere, and the study of climate change and its relationship to atmospheric erosion, which was one of t h e r e a s o n s f o r t h e disappearance of liquid water from the surface of the planet.

Another unique aspect of this mission is that for the first time, a Mars exploration project will be able to take a global picture of the Martian atmosphere. It will do so by taking an integrated picture o f t h e a t m o s p h e r e throughout the day and for a long period of time, helping to capture data on the planet's atmosphere in different seasons across the year. This data will be made available to the global community.

Dr Ahmad Belhoul Al Falasi, Minister of State for Higher Education and Advanced Skills and chairman of the UAE Space Agency, said: “ T h e E m i r a t e s M a r s Mission's Hope Probe is almost complete. The UAE is on the verge of making

history, after turning its dream of becoming the first Arabic and Islamic country to send a spacecraft to Mars into reality. This monumental endeavour is the culmination of the efforts of a skilled and experienced team of young Emiratis, who with the support of the nation and its visionary leadership will secure the UAE's position at the forefront of space e x p l o r a t i o n a n d t h e international space sector.”“The UAE, through this ambit ious project, has positioned itself amongst the leading countries in the field of space exploration and a d v a n c e d s p a c e manufacturing. The project has so far showcased the level of capabilities and world-class facilities that are available in the UAE.

The development and launch of the Hope Probe to Mars wou ld not have been possible without the inspired guidance of the UAE's leadership, whose trust in, and support of young ta len ted Emi ra t i s has enabled our nat ion to achieve success across a range o f sec tors and industries,” added Dr Al Falasi.I

IN THE NEWS

C-COM reports first quarter results

C-COM Satellite Systems has announced financial results for the first quarter ended February 28, 2019. The Company has generated revenues of $2,948,252 and a net after tax profit of $424,404 or 1 cent per share. This compared with revenues of $1,816,142 and a net after tax profit of $16,862 or 0 cents per share as reported in 2018, representing an increase of 62% and 2,417% respectively. The working capital of the Company increased by 6.4% to $20,521,137 at February 28, 2019 as compared to $19,280,977 at February 28, 2018.The Company paid out $465,257 in dividends during the first quarter compared to $459,432 in the first quarter of 2018 representing a 1.3% increase. The Company has maintained its quarterly dividend payout while continuing to innovate and invest into the next generation of advanced antenna products. The Company also announced the payment of its eligible quarterly dividend in the amount of $0.0125 per common share payable on May 23, 2019 to all shareholders of record as of May 9, 2019. Based on the closing price of $1.70 per share on April 22, 2019, this dividend represents a yield of 2.94% on an annualized basis. This is the Company's 28th consecutive quarterly dividend and its 32nd consecutive profitable quarter. “We are pleased with the results of this quarter, which is indicative of much improved market conditions over last year,” said Leslie Klein, President & CEO of C-COM. “The C-COM manufactured products continue to be in great demand from customers around the world who value cost-effective solutions combined with high reliability. We are seeing a resurgence of orders, especially from the oil and gas, disaster management, and government, which continue to be significant users of our antenna systems,” Klein continued. C-COM has also developed three new carbon fibre Manpack antenna models which are now in production. The one-case backpack antenna is expected to provide new solutions and generate incremental sales for the company from the Military, Emergency Responders , D isas te r Management, Broadcasting and other vertical markets. The company is making good progress with its research and development of a flat panel phased array solution. “We have recently demonstrated the successful transmit and receive capabi l i t ies of th is novel electronically steerable phased array antenna which is being developed jointly with the Universi ty of Waterloo CIARS Department,” Klein continued. C-COM is also pleased to announce the appointment of Drew Klein as Vice-President of Sales effective May 1, 2019

UAE's Mars probe on track for July 2020 launch

The “Total loss” of a satellite like Intelsat 29e, just 3 years into its 15-year life, has 2 significant implications: the sunk cost of the satellite, in addition to over 12 years of potential revenues and 6,552 kg of u n c o o p e r a t i v e d e b r i s r o a m i n g uncontrolled in geostationary orbit. As organizations such as Northrop Grumman and Effective Space work towards making In-Orbit Servicing a reality, incidents like Intelsat 29e demonstrate the need and opportunity for this market. The initial In-Orbit Demonstration (IOD) missions, while focused on life extension, are also a gateway to various other In-Orbit Servicing applications with differing levels of complexity that could curtail losses from similar mishaps in the future.

Salvage is a highly opportunistic market with different mission possibilities, and therefore the biggest challenge is to have immediate availability of a service. Based on the mission profile, it can be a challenging business case for both the satellite operator as well as the IOS provider due to factors such as high delta-V requirements, extremely long idle time and lack of enough useful life to justify needing the service. This makes both – the addressable market as well as the supply for these missions – highly restricted. However, the potential benefits also raise the pricing tolerances and allows the service to be offered at premium prices.

Due to its large size, tracking Intelsat 29e is relatively easy with the existing technology, which can provide timely and accurate alerts to help avoid collisions with other satellites. However,

TheRemove Debris mission, led by Surrey Space Center, recently successfully demonstrated in-orbit active debris removal. Other organizations such as D-

Salvaging Intelsat 29e after the fuel leak

Debris Removal

there is still a significant risk of a potential collision with other uncontrolled debris in orbit – which will result in further, smaller and potentially more harmful debris.

rbit and Astroscale are similarly orking towards debris mitigation and removal applications.

. Currently, no existing technology is capable of capturing and safely de-orbiting this object profile. As such, NSR believes this to be a mid- to long-term application of In-Orbit Servicing.

Another rather long term but highly relevant application of In-Orbit Servicing is the ability to salvage parts from a defunct satellite such as Intelsat 29e. Any useable and valuable components from an otherwise non-operational satellite could be recycled, thereby making up for losses, to certain extent. The supply pool of salvageable components is in fact not just limited to failed satellites but all satellites that are either retired or nearing end of life.

While the complexity of this application requires high technology readiness levels in robotics and AI, in addition to the relatively simpler rendezvous and docking operations, the potential benefits are an increase in the return on investment for operators, which in today's uncertain GEO market dynamics, is a significant advantage.

With compelling opportunities, the In-Orbit Servicing market also raises some critical questions regarding regulations, legality and liability, which must be resolved before any of these a p p l i c a t i o n s c a n b e w i d e l y commercialized.

While attempts have been made for decades, In-Orbit Servicing is still a nascent market with early missions planned in the very near future.

The complexity arises, h o w e v e r, w h e n d e a l i n g w i t h uncontrolled and uncooperative debris, which Intelsat 29e now is

Life extension, while forecasted to be the largest market, is only just an opening to more complex missions with even

Salvage Parts from Intelsat 29e

Bottom line

higher return on investment.In an environment of falling capacity prices and significant CAPEX, the In-Orbit Servicing market has the potential to change space economics. From life extension, de-orbiting, and salvage operations that lead early revenue opportunities, to satellite repair and alteration on the mid-term roadmap and diverse emerging applications support in the long-term, In-Orbit Servicing not only promises to lower costs but also open doors to new revenue streams.

Intelsat operates the world's first Globalized Network, delivering high-quality, cost-effective video and broadband services anywhere in the world. Intelsat's Globalized Network combines the world's largest satellite backbone with terrestrial infrastructure, managed services and an open, interoperable architecture to enable customers to drive revenue and reach through a new generation of network services.

Intelsat satellite communications network covers 99% of the world's populated regions, including market access in approximately 200 countries and territories. It have a premier media, telecommunications and government customer base.Intelsat satel l i te communications network covers 99% of the world's populated regions, including market access in approximately 200 countries and territories. It have a premier media, telecommunications and government customer base.

Thousands of organizations serving billions of people worldwide rely on Intelsat to provide ubiquitous broadband connect iv i ty, mu l t i fo rmat v ideo b roadcas t i ng , secu re sa te l l i t e communications and seamless mobility services. The end result is an entirely new world, one that allows us to envision the impossible, connect without boundaries and transform the ways in which we live.

Austin Okere,Founder, CWG Plc

John UgbeCEO, MultiChoice Nigeria

As a leading provider of fixed satellite services with a diversified, premier customer base, a total loss” of Intelsat 29e, just 3 years into its 15-year life, has 2 significant implications, particularly the sunk cost of the satellite, in addition to over 12 years of potential revenues and 6,552 kg of uncooperative debris roaming uncontrolled in geostationary orbit, according to NSR’s Shagun Sachdeva

SPECIAL FEATURE

Salvaging Intelsat 29e

P a n a s o n i c A v i o n i c s Corporation and IMG have announced esports as the latest addition to Sport 24 E x t r a ' s l i v e i n f l i g h t entertainment programming. This marks the first time that live, organised, competitive gaming has been introduced to av ia t ion . I t w i l l be accessible to passengers via the IMG-owned and produced Sport 24 Extra channel, which is available exclusively inflight on Panasonic-equipped aircraft.

Introducing esports to the aircraft cabin will enable airlines to enhance the passenger experience by providing more engaging inf l ight gaming viewing options. It will also improve operational efficiency by providing long lasting value on investment, and drive new bus iness oppor tun i t i es through advertising and attracting a new audience.

The offer ing marks an extension of the longstanding, success fu l pa r tne rsh ip between Panasonic and IMG, t h a t s e e s m i l l i o n s o f passengers en joy l i ve sporting action in the skies every year. IMG's Sport 24 and Sport 24

E x t r a c h a n n e l s a r e available exclusively from Panason ic , w i th l i ve coverage of some of the world 's most popular sporting events including the Eng l i sh P remie r League , Bundes l i ga , Rugby World Cup, Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics, the Masters, The Open Championship, Ryder Cup, R o l a n d G a r r o s , t h e Austra l ian Open and Wimbledon.

David Bart le t t , Chief Technology Officer of P a n a s o n i c A v i o n i c s Corporation, says: “As passengers get younger and airlines become more digital, the need for new and engaging content is increasingly essential to compete. Esports brings significant value to an airline by enhancing the passenger experience with engaging content that has

garnered one of the fastest g row ing aud iences i n entertainment. Similar to traditional sports, esports is m o s t v a l u a b l e w h e n broadcasted live. Past live esports tournaments and m a t c h e s h a v e s e e n v i e w e r s h i p s u r p a s s traditional sports.

“ F o r a i r l i n e s , t h e s e innovative solutions provide a game-changing way to differentiate themselves in the market, and a unique way to drive ancillary revenue generation.”Richard Wise, SVP, Content and Channels,

IMG Media, said: “Esports is fast becoming some of the most popular and engaging sporting content around the globe, and we are delighted that passengers travelling with Sport 24's partner airlines will be able to enjoy tournaments live on-board.”

N S R ' s A e r o n a u t i c a l Satcom Markets, 7 th Edition report forecasts inflight connectivity (IFC) will be a $36 B 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 d e l a y s i n i n s t a l l i n g equipment, indecisions by airlines, and uncertainty on business models, on top of technical and regulatory hurdles.Overall, the market lost a bit of its shine as aeronautical connectivity grew in 2018 by $400 M – about 40% less than expected – but on the bright side, passenger aircraft retail revenues reached more than $1B 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. Globally, all major airlines are signed up f o r s o m e f o r m o f connect iv i ty, and the remaining 'greenf ie ld ' opportunity now shifts to smaller airlines where passenger experience is not a major preoccupation, but connecting aircraft is seen as inevitable. “New and future customers have watched and learned from early adopter mainline carriers and understand better what they can get today from an IFC service onboard aircraft,” said Claude Rousseau, NSR Research Director and

report author. “As a result, the expectations of cheaper and better IFC with higher capacity and more reliable service is a deeply-rooted impression amongst airline customers,” he continued. To amortize the still-high cost o f IFC hardware and installation, the delivery of a quality service will become paramount for airlines who have growing needs across fleets for different types of connections for both cabin and crew. Over the next decade, NSR believes capacity p r i c i n g w i l l d e c r e a s e subs tan t i a l l y and the associated savings passed to customers such that service providers will need to grow their value-added services to maintain margins.

IN THE NEWS

SES reach grows to 355 million homes worldwide

SES strengthens its position as the world's leading video distributor via satellite as the number of TV households it serves increased by more than 4 million to over 355 million in 2018.SES vast satellite footprint has enables the operators to deliver thousands of hours of the latest digital television content every day and allows companies to provide broadband networks in remote locations and governments to connect their sites. The results from the SES's annual market research highlighted further growth in SES's technical reach and underlined the important role of satellite in delivering video to large audiences directly and indirectly in a reliable and cost-effective manner.

The results showed an increase in SES's technical reach in Europe, Latin America, Asia-Pacific, and Africa. In Africa, this included the addition of Kenya to the survey where more than 2 million TV homes across the country rely on SES for their TV content. In Europe, satellite broadcasting, and especially Direct-to-Home (DTH), remains the leading distribution technology, with SES serving 167 million TV homes across the continent. The SES fleet is also delivering video content to 72 million households across North America, mainly via the important U.S. cable neighbourhoods. Across other markets, SES continues to expand its technical reach, which now totals 102.6 million TV homes served by key video neighbourhoods in Asia-Pacific, Latin America and Africa. The results underscore the essential value proposition of satellite broadcasting as a highly attractive platform for reliable and cost-effective video delivery to large audiences. These qualities make it ideal for distributing HD and UHD programming, and SES is today delivering nearly 2,800 HD TV channels and over 40 commercial UHD TV channels – more than any other satellite service provider. 2018 was the 25th year that SES has conducted the Satellite Monitor survey. The detailed data it delivers about the reach of SES and video viewing trends has proven to be a valuable tool for SES's customers, supporting SES's position as a trusted partner to the world's leading broadcasters and content owners. “At SES, we invest in tools and services to help our customers gather information about markets they operate in so that they can be even more successful in their business. The Satellite Monitor is one such tool that demonstrates the long-term value of SES's core video neighbourhoods and extensive reach to our customers,” said Ferdinand Kayser, CEO of SES Video. “Regardless of the shift in consumption habits, it is clear that our business remains an essential tool in delivering a high-quality viewing experience to the world's leading broadcasters and content owners. Through the differentiation of our services, we will continue to support their development and future success

Sport 24 Extra launches live inflight Esports

IFC market projected to reach $36 billionin cumulative revenue by 2028

After fifty years of human reliance on space-based capabilities and applications, a growing awareness of the risk of collisions in space and of vulnerability of space systems to threats posed by space debris in particular and to a lesser extent by space weather has begun. In addition, a further threat is the risk of interference in its various forms. This risk, by comparison, has received relatively little attention so far. While the pre-launch and launch phases are covered by insurance premiums, satellite interference are rarely, if at all covered by insurance claims. In most instances, space insurance was restricted to one phase only.

The Intelsat 708 satellite destroyed in a Long March 3B crash on February 15, 1996 offers a case in point. Though the Intelsat satellite 708 was insured for $204.7 million, Intelsat Corporation obtained space insurance for the launch phase only. The launch phase extended from intentional ignition of the rocket to separation of the satellite from the rocket.

In the case of damage, the usual point of reference for compensation in relation to damage caused by launches and satellites are the provisions of the Liability Convention of 1972 but in some, if not most, instances of interference with satellites, the provisions of that Convention may not be engaged if the “damage” is not caused by another space object. The satellite operator and its customers are the victims. In such circumstances the rules providing for legal liability are obscure and likely to be largely ineffective.

Interference can be categorised into five main groups: interference caused by system users; interference caused by adjacent satellites; interference caused by terrestrial services; deliberate interference; and cross interference caused by misaligned uplink signals in opposite polarised transponders. While approximately 85-90 per cent of incidents are accidental, the net results are the same – a tremendous drain on company resources, including manpower, available satellite capacity and, of course budget. The most common form of defensive interference is 'jamming'. This can relate to TV and radio transmissions, typically as a means of political censorship of information. Another form would be the jamming of GPS signals for whatever purpose. Another form of interference includes hacking by persons or by groups such as “Anonymous”, acts of terrorism, acts of commercial sabotage and acts of war. Mostly, this would be aimed at destruction or disruption of services but might extend to taking control of such systems. There is an example of this type of interference with the US reporting that in 2007 and 2008 an unknown power was able access Landsat-7 and Terra EOS AM-1 satellite systems, presumably to test its ability to take control and even destroy such systems. Though not

proven, the US authorities voiced suspicions that a foreign power was involved.It's not just satellite operators, however, who suffer from these highly unwelcome incidents. Users, who are the ultimate victims, such as TV broadcast networks, transmission equipment operators, even advertisers, have a stake in the integrity of satellite transmission links.

Costly business

The satellite Users Interference Reduction Group (SUIRG) estimates, from member-provided data, that international satellite operators with small-to-large fleets of geostationary satellites positioned in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Ocean Regions incurs costs from hundreds of thousands to million of dollars per year due to satellite interference. These losses are two folds. First is the revenue impact from the actual outrage time in some cases. But a significant financial punch can be attributed to the cost of manpower spent locating the source of the interference and mediating a resolution.

From its extensive research on the subject, SUIRG estimates that most large satellite operators lose the equivalent of three quarters to one full 'person year per satellite' annually on interference related issues. Most large operators retain personnel dedicated solely to working on identifying and resolving interference issues. The financial strain of interference incidents on satellite operators can run into several million dollars when the loss of capacity and personnel time is added up. As a major US television broadcaster executive puts it, 'we have spent in excess of US $2.4 million over the past two years resolving interference issues.'

With regard to international regulation, a number of international telecommunications conventions have provisions designed in the allocation of frequencies to avoid causing harmful interference to others but they do not provide effective sanctions for such interference. Certainly, intentional acts of jamming broadcasts to particular States will be contrary to Article 15 of the Radio Regulations, an international treaty governing the use of radio-frequency spectrum and satellite orbits under the supervision of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), which is an Agency of the United Nations. Furthermore, activities which are conducted to restrict the free flow of information may contravene Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. However, obtaining a remedy is another matter.

Battles lying ahead

Two causes of interference that are receiving increased attention come from adjacent satellite and broadband systems. While still accidental, interference caused by adjacent

satellite is becoming more prevalent as two degree spacing between satellites in the geostationary arc becomes more common. Since each affected satellite operator is looking to maximise full use of its allocated spectrum, SUIRG is seeing more incidents of 'stepping on each other's toes.' The result lies in better coordination, which also will help reduce disproportional loss of personnel hours.

As more countries look to open the lower portion of the C band for WiMAX, interference potential from terrestrial systems will most likely increase. The WRC-07 ruling created a sound regulatory framework for minimising this potential for interference into FSS; however, left the door open allowing countries to elect if they desired to provide FSS protection. The global map developed by the US Navy, identifies the countries that have elected to allow C-band WiMAX implementations. It is critical that FSS and WiMAX stakeholders adequately implement the WRC-07 decisions to ensure a globally acceptable interference environment in the C-band frequencies.

The WiMAX forum has stated in the white paper that they will not knowingly implement C-band systems within the operational area of an FSS antenna. Consequently it is imperative that transmit plus receive-only FSS antenna latitude and longitude locations be identified in a common database. At the SUIRG 2008 Cairo interference conference, SUIRG took an action to identify where and how to register antenna locations. Without such a database, failure to appropriately register C-band earth stations which operate in frequencies also identified for WiMAX type operations would substantially increase the potential for interference in the C-band.

Stopping interference before it starts may not be possible, but swiftly identifying the root of the problem and resolving the cause with the least amount of drain on the organisation is an attainable goal with the right tools ad industry commitment. The responsibility lies with all operators and users. By sharing information on interference incidents and resolution, ensuring that employees are properly trained, and remaining attentive to the latest regulations, the satellite industry can make tremendous progress in reducing the effect of satellite interference to a more manageable level. Therefore, the World Radio Communication Conference (WRC 2015) meeting will feature discussion on the interference of satellite communications from terrestrial infrastructure and members of the satellite industry are aware they must begin making plans to protect the spectrum they are currently using.

OPINION

In Africa, signal interference has become a problem for all satellite operators and users of satellite services.

WRC’19: Battles still lying ahead

The dream of an Arab space agency is one step closer to becoming a reality, after Saudi Arabia and 10 other countries signed the first pan-Arab agreement on coord ina t ing na t iona l exploration programs at the Global Space Congress in Abu Dhabi held recently.The ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, said that the group's first project would be a satellite system to be built in the UAE.“I personally believe in Arab talents,” he said on Twitter. “We called our new satellite '813' in reference to the date that marked the beginning of prosperity for the House of Wisdom in Baghdad under the reign of Al-Ma'mun.”T h e a g r e e m e n t i s unprecedented for the nations involved, whose levels of technical expertise vary. The first aim of the agreement will be to bring them all up to an equal level of capability.“It has taken a while b e c a u s e i t n e e d e d leadership that was not there, but the UAE has now provided i t ,” said Dr. Mohammad Al-Ramadhan, director of the Research Directorate at the Kuwait F o u n d a t i o n f o r t h e Advancement of Sciences. “The initiative will develop and support the launch of satellites, which will be a gift to the Arab world, and will g i v e s c i e n t i s t s a n d eng inee rs f rom Arab countries the chance to participate.With this fresh impetus and the opportunities it provides, the future will be different.”A delegation from the Saudi Space Commission (SSC) was present at the event, to connect with regional partners and conduct research for the Kingdom's own national strategy, which i s c u r r e n t l y u n d e r construction.Established in late 2018, the commission's role is to supervise and regulate the space sector in Saudi Arabia, working with partner organizations such as the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology,

the Ministry of Defense, u n i v e r s i t i e s , t h e C o m m u n i c a t i o n s a n d Informat ion Technology Commission and the General Authority for Civil Aviation. The end goal is to make the sector profitable, eventually contributing to the economy and creating jobs.“Arabs have a lot of potential i n s p a c e e x p l o r a t i o n , especially because a large segment of our population, around 60-70 percent, is very young,” Al-Ramadhan said. “If we can use the revenues from our oil resources to fund our youth, we will definitely make our mark.”The SSC's national strategy, when published, will span 15 y e a r s , e n c o m p a s s i n g observation, navigation and communication satel l i te systems, human space flight, scienti f ic research and exp lorat ion. I t w i l l be presented to the Saudi Council of Ministers for approval later this year.“The world is already in an energy t rans i t ion , ” A l -R a m a d h a n a d d e d . “Countr ies are moving towards renewable energy, like hydrogen and solar power, buying electric cars, and we are slowly shifting away from oil. By diversifying our economy, it will definitely make a big difference in terms of moving from a reliance on oil revenue.”The Kingdom has form in looking to the stars for i n s p i r a t i o n — R i y a d h famously put Sultan bin Salman Al-Saud into orbit in 1985, making him the first Arab in outer space.According to Sheikha Al-Maskari, chief innovation officer at the UAE Space Agency, the move to establish a new Arab space group is a significant moment: “We hope to organize and energize the regional space sector. We also hope to share knowledge and expertise to f u r t h e r c o n t r i b u t e t o humanity's ongoing quest to understand the universe in which we live.”Senior figures from Kuwait, Algeria, Morocco, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan and the UAE met during the event's second day to discuss their r e s p e c t i v e p r o g r e s s .

“Morocco started investing in space in the early 1980s, and one of its strategies was to merge all of its space programs to a single national agenda,” said DrEdriss Al-Haddani, director general of the Royal Center for Remote Sensing in Morocco. “This will be a good starting point for all Arab space agencies to improve and develop their capabilities.”Although Jordan does not have a dedicated space agency yet, the Royal Jordanian Geographic Center is tasked with updating maps and forecasts using satellite imagery. “When we talk about space programs, it has always involved collaboration between different bodies,” said Brig. Gen. Dr. Awni Al-Khasawneh, director general of the center.“Collaboration between Arab countries is crucial to our collective success. It is a very positive initiative and we, as Arab countries, should take this opportunity to use all our resources in the best possible way.”According to Al-Ramadhan, the most significant challenge facing any country embarking on space exploration is financial. “You need a huge budget,” he explained, “so the capabilities or resources of one country on its own will not be enough. The new initiative will be the most efficient solution to funding shortfalls, as well as helping to break the psychological barrier that such a field is the preserve of (great powers).“The ultimate objective is not just to send astronauts to space, but to enhance the scientific and technological capabilities of our younger generations, who will have a mission to go even further. Space technology can help us find ways to mitigate climate change, for instance, while improving the quality of the environment and the air.”The natural end point of such c o l l a b o r a t i o n i s t h e establishment of an official pan-Arab space agency. “The plan is to start cooperation and to build mutual projects to reach that point of creating t h i s a g e n c y , ” s a i d GhalibFaour, director of the Lebanese Remote Sensing

IN THE NEWS

Measat-3b

ITU releases new report on preparatory studies for WRC-19

The 2nd session of the 2019 Conference Preparatory Meeting, 18-28 February 2019, approved a report containing the technical, operational and regulatory key materials for the p r e p a r a t i o n o f t h e I T U W o r l d Radiocommunication Conference 2019 (WRC-19) . The report is to help Member States' prepare their proposals on the complex radio-frequency spectrum and satellite topics that are on the agenda of WRC-19 which will be held in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt from 28 October to 22 November 2019. “The global management of the radio-frequency spectrum and satellite orbits is essential to extend the reach of information and communication technologies to all corners of the world," said ITU Secretary-G e n e r a l H o u l i n Z h a o . “ F u t u r e radiocommunication networks are set to play a pivotal role in the digital economy and sustainable development, which is made possible through the universal wireless ecosystem facilitated by ITU."“WRC-19 is expected to ensure the future management of radio spectrum in more efficient ways, with global implications for policy-makers and industry as well as important benefits for end users," said Mario Maniewicz, Director of the ITU Radiocommunication Bureau. “The report represents a major step in the preparations for WRC-19, concerning, in particular, the identification or use of frequency bands for the development of IMT-2020, high altitude platforms, as well as new satellite and t e r r e s t r i a l a p p l i c a t i o n s . I m p o r t a n t improvements to the international regulatory framework have been identified for non-geosynchronous orbit (NGSO) and GSO satell ite coordination and notif ication procedures, as well as for maritime and aeronautical communications and the development of new technologies." The conference revises the Radio Regulation the international treaty governing the use of the radio-frequency spectrum and satellite orbits. “The main goal to participate as ITU Member States and Sector Members in WRC-19 is to ensure the proper development of the ITU Radio Regulations by gathering all the different viewpoints and proposals collected since the cycle of studies began in 2015," said Mr Khalid Al-Awadi, Chairman of the Conference Preparatory Meet ing, and Manager, Internat ional Organizat ions with the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of the United Arab Emirates. “We need to accommodate the new innovative technologies that we see coming into the world, and adopt and incorporate all requirements and modifications in the Radio Regulations by consensus, because we all understand that these new technologies will improve the life of humanity as a whole."Over 1,250 participants from 106 ITU Member States attended CPM19-2 to collate the preparatory studies related to each WRC-19 agenda item. Representatives of 83 ITU Radiocommunication Sector Members as well as various international organizations also participated in the development of the report.

Saudi Arabia partners Arab coalition space exploration

on

After its initial success in the Netherlands in 1999, the Big Brother franchise was sold to eighteen countries including South Africa; but now present in over 40 countries .In Africa, the Big Brother franchise has the continental version called Big Brother Africa and other localised versions of countries such as Big Brother Nigeria and Big Brother South Africa Mzansi. Big Brother programming rose to fame on technological innovations that “allowed viewers to key into the programme at any hour of the day or night – whether it be via website, chat lines, video and audio-streaming, or simply by downloading the Big Brother ringtones onto one's mobile-phone and in so doing become a communicant in an all-enveloping media event”. These strategies have made it a potent illustration of media globalisation.

As a franchise holder, Endemol through Endemol Shine Africa, its South African subsidiary, entered into an agreement with MultiChoice's MNet, a pay-television channel on DStv in South Africa and beyond to produce and broadcast the first series of Big Brother South Africa also called Mzansi in 2001.According to report, Endemol Shine Africa caters to the local adaptation of Big Brother in South Africa hence it is the content producer, franchisor and distributor while the content broadcaster and franchisee is MultiChoice through M-Net. The establishment of this franchise has not only featured on the main-stream media but has filtered across multiple media. It relies on those platforms as the Internet, telephone voting, live events, tabloid narratives and public debates Two decades after it was first aired, the Big Brother franchise has been altered by various local contexts For instance, what may be permissible in the South African version of Big Brother may not be permissible in Big Brother Al-Rais – the Arabic series of the franchise. Furthermore, an Endemol producer in its Belgian company when asked the question if the franchise was tailored to fit every country's cultural context answered “yes, it does, as long as you allow a few local changes.

Compare the Belgian Big Brother for instance with the Dutch or Spanish one. In Spain they have a swimming pool. Here, a swimming pool is considered a luxury. In Spain, with the climate they have, it isn't.”This has led to such tags and questions as 'Big Brother or Big Brothel?

The M-Net in and Big Brother Franchise

As a successful media and video entertainment venture, MultiChoice has enjoyed a large share of horizontal media integration within the media landscape of Africa. With its focus mainly on video entertainment and Internet, it has accrued a large number of audiences both within South Africa and on the continent as a whole. One of its major business units, M-Net was also the first transnational broadcaster in the world to broadcast the three reality television shows; Idols, Big Brother Africa and Survivor South Africa simultaneously to its audience.

“Compare the Belgian Big Brother

with the Dutch or Spanish. In Spain

they have a swimming pool, with

the climate they have, it isn't a

luxury.”This has led to such tags and

questions as 'Big Brother or Big

Brothel?”

Through DStv its satellite service provider, it offers series, movies and general entertainment channels to its consumers within South Africa and in other parts of the continent. The genres it provides cover movies, sports, lifestyle, culture, children's entertainment, documentaries, general entertainment, music, current affairs, news, commerce and religion among others that all create a mix of channels. The DStv bouquets that are available provide for different people and lifestyles determined by their level of afford ability on packages from Access bouquet to the Premium bouquet. DStv also provides services to its Indian and Portuguese audiences. M-Net in its bid to cater to its local populace produces a large

, stimulating local production industry and supporting the local economy evident in the increase in local programming, according to Imtiaz Patel, Chief Executive at MultiChoice.

With the emphasis of MultiChoice on airing local productions that resonate with its audience, “Big Brother proved to be very successful with viewer participation increasing yearly reaching a record level of 9m,” MultiChoice also produces a large number of its content locally and thus motivates local productions within the media landscape as a whole. It does not only focus on the needs of its global audience because of its continental and global footprints but it equally focuses on its local audience within the South African media landscape. It has met the needs of its local population through the inclusion of local channels on its cheaper bouquet and at the same time not neglected the needs of the wider populace continentally and globally through other channels and packages provided.

Technology convergenceThe process of convergence and revolutions experienced in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and the

component of its content locally

6

Two decades after it was first aired, the Big Brother franchise has been altered by various local contexts as what is permissible in the South African version may not be permissible in Big Brother Al-Rais – the Arabic series of the franchise. In Netherlands, United States, United Kingdom, Spain and South Africa, the Big Brother franchise was tailored to fit every country's cultural context. This has led to such tags and questions as 'Big Brother or Big Brothel? Read more in this report.

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Professor Sir Martin Sweeting

Big Brother or Big Brothel?The new face of reality TV show in Africa

Internet, have aided the production, distribution and consumption of media texts and the broadcast of global, local and glocal contents by the global media. In the South African context, this was brought into play because the availability of communication satellites and STPs with various content 'bouquets' that make these affordable and accessible.

While taking advantage of these advances, viewers can stream media content through their devices, comment on issues and follow activities on social media, and get informed about global and local events immediately through various websites and applications.

Big Brother houseReality television has become prominent in contemporary African television culture; a position where it is able to provide shows that seek to attract audiences through its multichannel landscape by harnessing aesthetic and cultural power through the audiences' multimedia experiences all within a cultural sphere.As a cultural phenomenon, it has so far brought the crucial involvement of 'people' such as its audience, the producers, the participants, distributors and many others who are involved in the production, distribution and consumption of reality television content.

Big Brother house is constructed as one beyond the physical placement of the human mind, a confined place that the audience cannot have access to whereas most times, the building may be a 'regular' residence in the neighbourhood where people do not think can be the location of the Big Brother house.

eality television since inception “transformed from a cheap form of niche programming to the hot programming trend of the new millennium and eventually into a genre of its own”.

The captivating elements of the reality television genre like the show of public and private lives, the mix of fact, fiction,

Big Brother r

information and entertainment have been used to draw its audience in so as to sustain the content of the programme to make it as realistic as possible. It tries to capture the human interaction on a day-to-day basis in order to make it relatable and practical. It has also captures the viewing experience of the development of factual television genre that is inclusive of a wide range of scheduled entertainment programmes about real events and real lives of people.

In the last decade, television broadcasts have always been associated with 'liveness'. Consequent ly, the in t roduct ion of surveillance to reality television became the whole essence of this genre because surveillance became a mediated spectacle that revolved around live transmission called 'liveness' of a programme. The 'liveness' of reality television shows became a point of interest that encapsulated the audience in the world of mediated and real life simultaneity.

However, some media experts deferred on the concept of real life transmission of reality te lev is ion shows. Accord ing to a commentator, the materials that captured such shows were edited and incorporated into attractively packaged formats but still

“The introduction of surveillance to reality

television became the whole essence of

this genre because surveillance became a mediated spectacle that revolved around

live transmission called 'liveness' of a

programme”.

promoted the strengths of their reality credentials. This conclusion suggests that though some reality television shows try to be 'real' and ‘live', not all are transmitted as they are recorded.

The strategy of editing and repackaging in an attractive format gives the producers opportunity to capture the important and dramatic aspects of the shows. When these are broadcast, they generate more talking points and at the same time gather more ratings that lead to increased viewership – a promotional marketing tool to generate more income.

This manipulation can lead to the broadcast of the 'catchy' and important aspects of such shows while those that are not as relevant may be sidetracked

Glocalised features of Big Brother South AfricaAfter the creation of the Big Brother franchise by John de Mol and its first broadcast in the Netherlands, there have been several spin offs of the franchise. Big Brother “started a TV revolution and quickly became a cultural and social media phenomenon pushing boundaries across all platforms around the world”.

The show is about a group of contestants within the confines of a specially designed building for the show. The challenge for the contestants is to survive each other's company while they undertake specific outlined tasks. Contestants are always watched by the 'all seeing eyes' of 'Big Brother' through surveillance cameras attached to every part of the house and microphones that must be worn by all c o n t e s t a n t s t o m o n i t o r t h e i r moves/conversations t i l l they are eliminated from the show. They do house tasks and any form of activity the 'Big Brother' wants them to do. The house is usually guided by rules that if contravened could lead to sanctions and punishment from the 'Big Brother.' They do not have any form of contact to or with the outside world. This can only be established at the discretion of the 'Big Brother.'

The housemates therefore must learn to get along quickly while at the same time compete against one another to win the ultimate cash prize and the coveted Big Brother title. Winners of tasks may be rewarded while losers may be punished. Their rewards could guarantee immunity from the week's elimination while losers may be up for eviction or given chores depending on 'Big Bother's' discretion. One after the other, the housemates nominate each other for eviction with the voting power in the hands of the audience. Contestants are voted out of the house till the finale where the winners are chosen based on the highest number of votes received and the winner(s) is/are rewarded for endurance in the house over the period of days spent there. Big Brother Mzansi

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was shown on Mzansi Magic and Vuzu.

The housemates in Big Brother South Africa also called Mzansi were twenty in all; however, they were paired in twos that made a pair of ten. This was specific to perhaps every season. These pairs consisted of brothers and sisters, cousins, twins, those who were in relationships or were acquaintances. The 'paired' nature made it particularly unique to South Africa because family members, those in any form of relationship and acquaintances needed to have an established level of relationship before they went into the house.

The selection of contestants to participate in the show indicated one of the characteristics of the constructed nature and glocalised feature of the show. These participants adapted into South African stereotypes, a mix of characters that have to live together. These stereotypes are based on who the fans can easily relate with and who will make the show more dramatic; a voyeuristic experience created for the audience.

An instance out of many was the 'good bye diary-room' session where contestants expressed themselves to 'Big Brother' especially the struggles they had gone through. Such scenarios like this create 'emotional outlets' where the fans or audience can empathise. The producers of this show created feedback platforms for their fans through their Facebook, Twitter, WeChat, YouTube and Instagram accounts – a voting section where fans could vote for their favourite housemates and the message to television channel where fans could send direct messages to the television show that were displayed on the news bar. All these were noticeable icons on the official website of Big Brother Mzansi Double Trouble.

The consistent voice of the 'Big Brother' – in terms of the accent and tone – similar to the continental version is another constructed nature of the show.

Viewership and ratings of Big BrotherBig Brother has consistently been a primetime hit on CBS for more than 15 years running ranking number one on its timeslot, according to Endemol Shine Group. In the United States, the 17th season of Big Brother was one of the highest rated shows; Big Brother VIPs. in the United Kingdom, the show ranked as the highest show of the year on Channel 5, in Germany Big Brother VIPs Doubles was also highly rated while Big Brother in Spain still is a ratings winner on the Telecinco Channel because it doubled the primetime average for its young adult audience between 15-25.

The Big Brother franchise in the Netherlands at its inception was rated as one of the country's top shows with close to 15 million viewers within the first month of broadcast. The first series of Big Brother in the United Kingdom had high ratings with close to 10 million viewers; the second series had an

average of 4.5 million viewers with a 70% increase in broadcast share while the third series had more than 10 million text messages and 10 million viewers in the finale. These examples depict the wide reception of the Big Brother franchise on a global media landscape.

Big Brother Mzansi enjoyed relatively high viewership and rating on the viewing and rating chart of Mzansi Magic. For instance, the eviction show had 593,000 viewers while the nomination show had 230,000 viewers and were rated third and seventh respectively. Recently, , it was rated third, fourth and fifth on the Mzansi Magic chart with 593,000 viewers for the eviction show, 230,000 viewers for the nomination show and 214,000 viewers for the daily show respectively.

Big Brother Mzansi's daily show and nomination show both had 165,000 viewers and were rated sixth and seventh respectively while the eviction show gathered viewership of 593,000 and was rated third on the most viewed chart of Mzansi Magic. As at 26 April, 2015, the eviction show had 691,000 viewers, daily show had 165,000 viewers while the nomination show had 691,000 viewers and were rated third, sixth and seventh respectively. The viewership has continue to increase tremendously.

Big Brother franchise within the South African context

In Devereux's case study on Big Brother goes Global?, he pointed to the fact that since its establishment, this franchise had evolved to be one of the most talked about global media phenomena in recent past with global attention and devotion of fans through various social media and websites such as Facebook, YouTube channels, Twitter, websites as welovebigbrother.com among many others. Media convergence has thus brought about a cultural shift in how consumers are informed and the ways they interact across multimedia platforms.

The social media have aided this cause through news feeds, fan comments, uploaded pictures and videos, hashtags, constant conversations online and exclusive online streaming of the show.

Another obvious feature was the selection of housemates who would entertain the fans; those considered as rather fearless and not bothered about critics as regards why they chose to be on the show. Examples of the housemates on Big Brother Mzansi Double Trouble were Tiffini called Tiffini Peterson who wanted to have a good experience and know what it felt like to be in a 'situation' she had never been before; a situation the show promised, Bexx (Axola Mbengo) whose anticipations were those of fun and drama; a show where she expected to meet 'crazy folks', Soxx (Sokhana Ralane) entered the show for the prize and to be the voice of the

underdogs; Adams also called Siyanda Ngwenya on his own part wished the fans would enjoy his 'serenade' within the female contestants while Lebo (Kelebogile Manale) entered the show for exposure to the South African audience because her interests in presenting and acting were doubted by agents as a result of her accent. These are just a few of the many reasons contestants chose to be on the show.

As a symbolic form of popular culture especially among teenagers and the youth, it has gained popularity among its African audience as a whole. Young viewers are the targets of advertisers because the television market appeals more to the younger adults; one of the reasons why some reality television shows have been so powerful. Big Brother Mzansi has established this television show as a form of cultural expression and sheds more light on the pertinent issues within the cultural framework of South Africa including power struggles, ethnicity and post-modernity.

Here, they were allowed to express themselves and their challenges; some of which prompted them to participate on the show. This show has therefore become a point of cultural interaction with different meanings attached to it in terms of acceptance and also criticisms of its ethical values. The platform that it creates for cultural expression makes it possible for people to hold different views and opinions about the show and the relevance of what the show portrays within the society.

The moral values of the franchise have been questioned especially as regards steamy sex scenes and shower hours that may lead to variance of reception in different countries due to such issues; for instance church organisations and religious groups in countries like Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria and Zambia condemned Big Brother Africa for some of the issues on moral grounds as mentioned above which they tagged 'explicit immorality'.

The integration of the social media is also a way to captivate more members of the audience and also sustain the interest of its young viewers through interactive panels. This highlights media convergence and the participatory culture of the audience has been fundamental to the success of reality television.

Due to the increase in demand for more reality television, producers have had to increase their outputs and also glocalise these formats to meet the needs of their local audiences, who affirmed that “interest in reality TV, where the show has been adapted locally, tends to gain traction quickly due to viewers relating better to a local superstar than a relatively unknown foreign celebrity.”

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Eutelsat Communications is set to become a partner of Seraphim Space Camp, the UK's first accelerator for space technology start-ups. Launched by Seraphim Capital, the world's leading SpaceTech venture fund, Seraphim Space Camp was created a year ago in London. Founded in 1977, Eutelsat Communications is one of the world's leading satellite operators. With a global fleet of satellites and associated g round in f ras t ruc tu re , Eutelsat enables clients a c r o s s V i d e o , D a t a , Government, Fixed and Mobile Broadband markets to communicate effectively to their customers, irrespective of their locationEutelsat will join the likes of t h e E u r o p e a n S p a c e Agency, Rolls-Royce, and Airbus in supporting the 3rd edition of the Seraphim Space Camp programme.

Over the course of 9 weeks, the selected startups will have their businesses accelerated to become

investment ready and to achieve commercial scale, receiving assistance with fund-raising, business and c o m m e r c i a l a d v i c e , individual coaching and mentoring opportunities, as well as access to Seraphim Space Camp's industry network.Eutelsat will be feeding into this ecosystem by actively engaging and providing its satellite expertise and space h e r i t a g e t o t h o s e participating start-ups, thus gaining exposure to a range of technological innovations which could support its future growth.J e a n - H u b e r t L e n o t t e , Eu te lsa t ' s D i rec to r o f Strategy and Strategic Marketing said: "We are delighted to partner with the Seraphim Space Camp and to play our part in stimulating the technological innovation w h i c h d r i v e s t h e development of our sector. This engagement underlines our commitment to an open i n n o v a t i o n s t r a t e g y . Seraphim Space Camp's

comprehensive and hands-on approach has already established itself as the go-to accelerator in the space field, notably leveraging the current dynamism of the UK space sector.”Rob Desborough, Director of Seraphim Space Camp said: “We're incredibly pleased to announce our partnership with Eutelsat. Many of the companies we select are utilising satellite data to solve on-Earth challenges, so to have onboard one of the world's leading satellite operators brings significant additional value to the programme. We look forward to working closely with Eutelsat throughout Mission #3 and beyond as we take Seraphim Space Camp to Eu rope . ” Over 6 ,800 television channels operated by leading media groups are broadcast by Eutelsat to one billion viewers equipped for DTH reception or connected to terrestrial networks. Headquartered in Paris, with offices and teleports around the globe,

IN THE NEWS

7

Zain, the leading digital service provider in Kuwait, hosted a special talk on science and technology innovation featuring The National Aeronautics and Space Administrat ion (NASA) in collaboration with the Embassy of the United States of America in the State of Kuwait. The talk was held at the Zain Innovation Center (ZINC) in the company's main headquarters in Shuwaikh. Zain hosted the special talk in line with its continuous keenness to o f f e r w o r l d - c l a s s specialized programs for those who are interested in developing their talents within all areas, especially in science and technology innovation. Zain, being a leader in the Kuwaiti private sector, believes in t h e i m p o r t a n c e o f enriching the talents of the community in which it

operates by adopting such initiatives.The special talk, held at the Zain Innovation Center (ZINC) in the company's main headquarters in Shuwaikh, featured Zainab “Nagin” Cox, a senior engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), who discussed many of NASA's missions like the Kepler telescope mission that aims at searching for earth-like planets around other stars, and many more interesting topics related to technology, science, and innovation. Currently, Cox is a Mission Lead on the operations team for Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), NASA's Mars Curiosity Rover, which landed in August of 2 0 1 2 a n d h a s b e e n exploring Mars ever since.

The Zain Innovation Center (Z INC) is a hub for

entrepreneurs and digital investments launched as a p l a t f o r m f o r t h e innovations of students, youth, and entrepreneurs. ZINC encourages young minds to think and act creatively outside of the n o r m i n a n o p e n , supportive environment for entrepreneurs to generate new ideas and develop them into viable opportunities.Zain affirms that it is committed to exerting more efforts into offering similar programs that enrich human resources development in all areas. The company will spare no efforts in making its c a p a b i l i t i e s a n d resources available as well as reinforce its collaboration with entities and organizations that provide such initiatives and actively develop Kuwaiti talents.

Nigeria, Egypt, Rwanda offer cheapest data services in Africa

The Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI) has disclosed that although Internet data services remain high in Africa, Nigeria, Egypt and Rwanda offer cheapest tariffs on the continent. As at the end of 2018, it ranked Nigeria as the second country after Egypt with the lowest tariff in Africa. In a document, yesterday, A4AI revealed that the cost of Internet access dropped globally last year, except in Africa.With Internet users on the continent already paying the highest prices for mobile data compared to average monthly income, new data from A4AI showed the average price of a gigabyte (GB) of data (relative to income) has increased over the past year in Africa, while dropping or remaining the same in other regions.Indeed, the rise of Internet and smart devices has revolutionised and disrupted several i n t e r r e l a t ed i ndus t r i e s . Te l ecoms corporations have amassed fortunes by selling several products and services, including mobile data and broadband.A4AI's report titled: Mobile Broadband Pricing, noted that people who live in developing economies face the least affordable mobile broadband prices. In fact, the past five years saw a rise in broadband cost for the first time.It highlighted the latest pricing across 99 countries and made several inferences. According to the body, the price is still expensive for millions of people, and only 30 of the nations surveyed have affordable mobile broadband.This implies that over 1.3 billion people live in countries with expensive 1 GB plan.Speaking with The Guardian, C h a i r m a n , A s s o c i a t i o n o f Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), OlusolaTeniola, said keen competition and stiff price reductions over threats from top (OTT) players were responsible for the drop in the country.A4AI is a global alliance of over 80 member organisations from across the public, private and not-for-profit sectors in both developed and developing countries, dedicated to ensuring affordable internet access for all through policy and regulatory change. Today, internet access is not only a catalyst for economic growth, it is also increasingly a precondition for people to participate in government and society. Poor and marginalised populations arguably stand to gain the most. On the other hand, a world in which only the affluent enjoy the benefits of connectivity is a world in which inequality will quickly deepen. For these reasons, among many others, the UN Sustainable Development Goals include a target to achieve universal, affordable internet access for all by 2020 — a goal that we're on track to miss by over 20 years unless greater efforts are made to get the world online. In Botswana, the government introduced new rules in late 2015 that improve and simplify the existing multi-service licensing regime, and ensure technology and service neutrality without restricting operators from holding different types of licenses

Zain hosts NASA at its Innovation Center

Eutelsat partners Seraphim Space Camp for space technology startups

Bangladesh, located in South Asia, bordering the Bay of Bengal, between India and Myanmar, is perhaps one of the overpopulated country in the world, but now on the trajectory of technological revolution. Like other developing countries, Bangladesh was late in introducing Internet technology. The Internet came in Bangladesh through email connectivity in 1993 by Pradesta Ltd. and Internet Protocol connectivity in 1996.

Nevertheless, online Internet service began in June 1996, when VSAT (Very Small Aperture Terminal) was legalized to operate as Internet Service Provider (ISP) in the country's private sector. Since then, there has been much talk about the use of Internet in industry, business, communication, education, research, and in every other sphere of life. But the Internet penetration rate in Bangladesh is as low as 0.2%, compared to Thailand 9.3%, Maldives 5.2%, Vietnam 4.2%, India 1.7%, Pakistan 1.0%, and Sri Lanka 1.0%.In addition, satellite television also began its journey in Bangladesh in 1992 and become a demanding business in the field of recreation. Before this period, state regulated Bangladesh Television (BTV) was the only dominant medium of entertainment for an extended twenty-eight years, ending its monopoly power with the penetration of Satellite TV in 1992. The introduction of satellite television is one of the dimensions of this technological advancement which has a definite effect on the social and cultural area of Bangladesh.For Bangladesh, the nation has experienced a significant cultural shift arising from regional channels of Satellite TV; particularly the Indian channels like Zee TV, MTV, Star Plus, Sony TV serials which for decades have been influencing the cultural sphere of the people.

In Bangladesh, people in rural areas like to watch television, even if it means going to a neighbors' home because they do not have a TV set. More people in rural areas watch TV

than have access to electricity or own a television because 32.2% watch television at a neighbor's home; 8.7% watch television in a shop; 4.4% watch television in a relative's home and 3.3% watch television in the market.

First satellite launchBangabandhu-1, the first commercial satellite of the country, was sent into orbit May 5 2018 and was ready for use three months after the launch. The satellite was manufactured by Thales Alenia Space, and was successfully launched from the historic Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida of United States on May 11. Falcon 9 of SpaceX lifted the satellite for the orbit and after ten days of launch, it took position in the desired location. After the launch, an 18-member team of local engineers was trained by Thales Alenia Space of France to managed the satellite.

Drawing upon the experience gained from India's Satellite Instructional

Television Experiment, when INSAT-1B rout ine ly t ransmi ts educat iona l programmes, focused on agriculture, family planning, health and nutrition, Bangladesh hopes to duplicate or even surpass Indian achievements. In 1975, the Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE) project covering 2,400 villages in six states became a model for other nations in implementing satellite based television educational systems.

According to a report, Bangladesh primary purpose was to gain experience i n d e v e l o p m e n t , t e s t i n g , a n d management o f sa te l l i te -based instruct ional television systems, particularly in rural areas, to demonstrate

The inauguration of the Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE) is considered the most significant landmark in the history of TV, not only in India but also all over the world. The experiment was set up in conjunction with the US National Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA) for reaching the rural audience with developmental messages.

Bangabandhu-1, Bangladesh first commercial satellite, was sent into orbit. The satellite is fitted with 26 Ku-Band and 14 C-Band transponders. Ku-band covers Bangladesh and its territorial area of the Bay of Bengal, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and the Philippines. The C- band covers Bangladesh, and all of Asia making Bangladesh fourth in South Asia after India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka to own a satellite, according to this report.

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Garki Village integration scheme quickbird satellite image 2003

Bangladesh emerged 57th space

nation in

the potential of satellite in developing countries, and to stimulate national development in India to contribute to health, hygiene, and family planning, national integration, to improve agricultural practices, to contribute to general school and adult education, and improve occupational skills.

The Bangladesh telecommunications and Broadcasting satellite, according to Ministry of Post and Telecommunication, was targeted to narrow the digital divide, as i t w i l l t a k e b r o a d c a s t i n g a n d telecommunication services to rural areas and introduce profitable services, including direct-to-home services, across the country and over the region.

Satellite television started its journey in Bangladesh in 1992 and become a demanding business in the field of recreation. Before this period, state regulated Bangladesh Television (BTV) was the only dominant medium of entertainment for an extended twenty-eight years, ending its monopoly power with the penetration of Satellite TV in 1992. The introduction of satellite television is one of the dimensions of this technological advancement which has a definite effect on the social and cultural area of Bangladesh.

Bangabandhu Satellite-1 was fitted with 26 Ku-Band and 14 C-Band transponders. Ku-band covers Bangladesh and its territorial area of the Bay of Bengal, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and the Philippines. The C- band covers Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Myanmar, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan,Turkmenistan, and portions of Kazakhstan. The government took the Bangabandhu-I project in May 2015 and assigned the Thales Alenia after signing a $248-million deal in November the same year.The satellite has 15 years for mission life span while another three years for its design. The satellite will also offer video services for Direct-to-Home (DTH), e- learning, Tele-medicine, Family Planning, Farming etc while voice service to cellular backhaul and disaster recovery, and data service for internet, SCADA, SOHO as well as business-to-business (VSAT).

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said the day of the satellite launching was a memorable one for Bangladesh just as the Independence Day celebrations, he said.

Before launch the ICT Division organised a conference at the Bangladesh Computer Council auditorium in Dhaka where the State Minister for ICT Division Zunaid Ahmed Palak highlighted the division's planned initiatives. Palak said the government will be bringing about 2,600 union parishads under broadband

connectivity. “Apart from building Sheikh Russel Digital Lab, we're building specialized labs at all universities and other institutions, he said..

He said:“We're giving 10% cash incentives to the export of ICT goods and have declared tax holiday till 2024 for IT/ITS companies. Continuing further, he said, “The country is bui lding international standard Tier-IV National Data Cenre in Gazipur for improving telecommunication in Bangladesh”.

Bangladesh's f i rst geostat ionary communication satellite Bangabandhu-I (BS-I) began its first transmission through broadcasting of South Asian Football Federation Championship.

The 12th ed i t ion o f the SAFF Championship is the biennial international men's football championship of South Asia organized by the South Asian Footbal l Federat ion, SAFF and Bangladesh hosted the event that began from September 4 and ended on September 15.

Echoing the achievements of the country in satellite broadcasting, Dr Shahjahan Mahmood said:“We are set to broadcast the SAFF Championship using BS-I through Bangladesh Television (BTV),”. Dr Shahjahan Mahmood is the Chairman of Bangladesh Communication Satellite Company Limited (BCSCL), with the responsible to operate the satellite. He added: “We will provide feed to BTV after receiving it from a private satellite TV station which wins broadcasting rights for the tournament.” Mahmood, however, referred to this broadcast as “pre-test” for commercial operations while all previous tes ts requ i red were comple ted successfully since the satellite took position into the orbit.

Bangabandhu Satellite-1 system will also provide service consisting of multiplexed digital television, radio and associated data direct to very small antennas. In addition, it will also offer video distribution, multiplexed digital television, radio and associated data services to

medium sized VSAT Private Networks and support private antennas networks consisting of voice, data, video and Internet services, to banks, gas stations, allowing end-user antennas, such as individual, organization, corporation or Government to remotely access the Internet at high speed with high Communications Trunks : wide band quality of service. high data rate point-to-multi-point services

Sri Lankan Prime minister Sheikh Hasina expressed her firm conviction that Bangabandhu Satellite would play a pivotal role in overall development of the region by opening up new opportunities for the learners of new generation.

Sheikh Hasina said: “Through the satellite we would be able to know the whole world and our children would be able to learn about space and nuclear technology, marine science and other areas of science, culture and nature which would be useful for them as well as country's development,” she said.

The Prime minister while addressing a function at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre (BICC) organised for celebrating successful launching of B a n g a b a n d h u S a t e l l i t e - 1 a n d inauguration of its ground stations at Gazipur and Betbunia, Sheikh Hasina said father of the nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had laid the foundation stone of the country's first satellite station at Betbunia in Rangamati. But after his brutal death the space technology didn't get due importance to flourish.

Bangladesh emerged as the 57th country having Satellite in the space and 34th nation of constructing nuclear power plant, the prime minister said, adding that “we have to hold up the dignity and take the country forward.”

The ground stations were named after PM's ICT advisor Sajeeb Wazed in recognition of his contribution to successful launching of Bangabandhu Satellite-1 and development of space and digital technology in Bangladesh.

Satellite company to get licenceBangladesh Communication Satellite Company L td , , opera tor o f the Bangabandhu Satellite-1—was awarded a licence from the telecom regulator to provide satellite services to local and foreign companies for 15 years.Md Jahurul Haque said:“We have decided to award a licence to the satellite company. Md Jahurul Haque is the acting chairman of the commission..According to report, the Bangladesh Telecommunication Act makes it mandatory for any entity to avail licence if it wants to provide telecom

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Abimbola Alale,Managing Director, NigComSat

SPECIAL REPORT

services in Bangladesh. After the licence, the BTRC will move to formulate a guideline on satellite services as there is no such licence in the country at the moment, officials said. The move will be taken to create scopes for prospective satellite companies to deliver satellite services, they said.

Bangabandhu-1 satellite' first contractIn 2018, an agreement was signed between the Shipping Ministry and the operators of the Bangabandhu-1 satellite, Bangladesh Communication Satellite Company Ltd in the city to provide maritime services using the country's first satellite, called Bangabandhu-1.

As part of the agreement, Bangladesh hope to rely on the satellite, whereby every ship and vessels navigating through the country's rivers and seas will be able to maintain communication with each other and prevent accidents, gain uninterrupted access to television, internet and other telecommunication facilities.

The agreement was signed by the secretary of the ministry Md Abdus Samad and managing director of BCSCL Md Saiful Islam. Shipping Minister Shahjahan Khan and Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology (ICT) Minister Mustafa Jabbar were also present during the occasion.

After the signing ceremony, Abdus Samad said that approximately 4000 international vessels enter Bangladeshi waters annually, while 35,000 domestic vessels navigate throughout the country annually.This agreement would help the vessels to maintain uninterrupted communication with each other and prevent collisions, enable access to internet and many more facilities, the secretary added.

Alongside the vessels, the facilities can also be availed by the ferry ghats and other riverside establishments.

However, preparations have already started in Bangladesh to launch its second satellite, Bangabandhu-2 in space. Prime M i n i s t e r S h e i k h H a s i n a s a i d Bangabandhu-2 would be launched much ahead of the expiry of the Bangabandhu-1.“We are taking preparations from now to launch Bangabandhu-2 so that our second satellite become operational before 15-year expiry time of the Bangabandhu-1the , first geostationary satellite of Bangladesh launched to the orbit on May 11, 2018,” Hasina said this during Parliament visit recently.Saiful Islam, who is also an additional s e c r e t a r y a t t h e P o s t s a n d Telecommunications Division, however,

Bangabandhu-2 satellite

declined to share the actual contract value, told the media that they will be providing the satellite's services at less than international rates.Citing the agreement as the first contract attained for Bangabandhu-1, he said the satellite formally begin to provide its services to end users last September. According to him, there is a target to go for more commercial service contracts after the satellite resume full services last September.

Conteributing further, the Project Director of Bangabandhu-1, Mezba huzzaman also informed the media that no technical faults are found in the satellite so far, which is operating smoothly and in constant communication with the two ground control stations at Betbunia in Rangamati and Gazipur.

He said that the maker of the satellite, Franco-Italian aerospace manufacturer Thales Alenia Space, has handed over the complete control of the satellite to Bangladesh.

ICT Minister Mustafa Jabbar said that conceptualisation of Bangabandhu-1 had begun back in 1997. The launch made Bangladesh the 57th country in the world and fourth in South Asia after India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka to own a satellite.

Transmitting local TV signalsSeven private television stations and three channels of state-run Bangladesh Television have started airing programmes using Bangabandhu-1, the country's first communication satellite.

The stations are BTV World, Sangsad Bangladesh Te lev is ion and BTV Chattogram and private channels Somoy TV, DBC News, Independent TV, NTV, Ekattor TV, Bijoy TV and Boishaki TV. State-run Bangladesh Betar is also using the satellite.

The channels are currently using the Bangabandhu satellite for free and have started paying for the service since March this year. They currently have contracts with satellite Apstar and their cancellation require notifications three months in advance.“We will start earning after this period,” said Shahjahan Mahmood, chairman of Bangladesh Communication Satellite Company Ltd”. (BCSCL).

Last year September, BTV ran live coverage of South Asian Football Federation Championship via the satellite. Some television channels also carried out test transmissions. Each television station in Bangladesh uses four to six megahertz of bandwidth and spends $20,000 a month on an average for satellite connectivity. If all o f t hem take the se rv i ce f rom

Bangabandhu-1, the BCSCL will be able to earn $10 million annually, enough to make its business viable.Currently, there are 34 television channels in Bangladesh which are shelling out $14 million per year to use satellites from other countries.“Television channels take per MHz bandwidth at $4,000 and we will offer them a better price with attractive discounts for additional bandwidth consumption,” said Mahmood. According to the initial plan, Bangabandhu-1 could reach break-even within seven years. But Mahmood said it could be done ever earlier than that.

Mahmood said TV channels incurred some costs to run their uplink and downlink stations. The BCSCL will allow new television stations to run the service from a single point, helping to save Tk 5 crore.

Fifteen more television channels are set to begin commercial operations in the country.

The BCSCL has also signed a deal with the country's first direct-to-home company RealVU, which is testing programmes aired by 48 local and international channels through Bangabandhu-1. “We are very close to finalising deals with a few companies from the Philippines as well as place where our satellite has a strong footprint,” said Mahmood. He said the BCSCL's international consultant Thaicom, a renowned satellite company of Thailand currently active in about 20 countries, was working intensively and some new business deals would be on the table within a short time.

“We have lots of challenges in formulating the process of running the satellite company as it is a very new kind of technology and business to us. It also took time to get the key of the satellite.”On November 9 last year, the BCSCL took over control of the satellite from its manufacturer Thales Alenia Space.In order to help the company run smoothly and take decisions faster, the government has formed a high-powered committee headed by the principal secretary to the Prime Minister's Office. The committee includes five senior secretaries, the chairman of the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) and the BCSCL chairman.

Besides, the telecom regulator has already made it mandatory for new television channels to take bandwidth from the state-owned satellite to ensure optimum use of Bangabandhu-1's capacity. “If the BCSCL fails to provide the bandwidth they need, only then can they avail services from other satellites,” said Md Jahurul Haque, acting chairman of the BTRC.The BCSCL has penned preliminary agreements with some government offices and will ink deals with two VSAT companies soon to provide uninterrupted connectivity to banks.

SPECIAL REPORT

The Minister of Information a n d C o m m u n i c a t i o n T e c h n o l o g y ( I C T ) AmrTalaat has affirmed E g y p t ' s i n t e r e s t i n cooperating with Huawei in the f ield of Art i f ic ial i n t e l l i g e n c e a n d transferring technology as well as the fifth generation technology (5G). Talaat added that Huawei will apply the first experiments of this technology in Cairo Stadium during the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations set to be held in Egypt.

This came during the meeting held between Egypt's Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli and C h a i r m a n o f t h e Supervisory Board at

Huawei Investment & Holding Co. Li Jie, and Regional President of the company in North African Robinson Tsai, in the presence of CEO of Huawei Egypt Vincent Sun.Today sport is a global spectacle, as countries from around the world are expected to showcase themselves at the Africa Cup of Nations sporting events, and the whole w o r l d w a t c h e s i n anticipation. The p r ime m in i s t e r p o i n t e d o u t t h e importance of Huawei's investment in this positive cl imate to boost i ts investment in Egypt, especially in the field of

smart city technology and other fields that Egypt is p a y i n g i n c r e a s i n g a t t e n t i o n t o . For his part, Jie affirmed his company's increasing interest in the Egyptian market, stressing the company's keenness to contribute to enhancing development sectors in the country. He said that Huawei is particularly interested in the field of training to hone skills of cadres around the world, adding that the company is w i l l i n g t o b o o s t cooperation with Cairo to help the government and private sector achieve t e c h n o l o g i c a l development.

IN THE NEWS

Measat-3b

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SatADSL, a provider of p r o f e s s i o n a l V S AT services via satellite, and the national satell ite operator of Turkmenistan, Türkmen hemrasy, have signed a new partnership to deliver SatADSL's c l o u d p l a t f o r m t o territories in Europe and the Middle East.The agreement w i l l i n v o l v e S a t A D S L provid ing i ts C-SDP solution, which is a comp le te OSS/BSS, c a r r i e r - g r a d e , f u l l y redundant platform which allows operators to easily o u t s o u r c e s a t e l l i t e services. SatADSL will connect to Türkmenistan's f i r s t s a t e l l i t e , t h e TürkmenÄlem 52°E, and, u s i n g K U - b a n d transponders, will provide coverage for Europe and the Middle East regions, facilitating the penetration of new markets.

Batyr Orazdurdyyev, Director of Türkmen hemrasy said, “Due to the versatile nature of C-SDP, we have successfully

agreed on this partnership w i t h S a t A D S L . B y incorporating its voucher-based system and value-added services, we can not only significantly expand our market reach but also offer numerous high-quality services cost-effectively throughout our key region of Europe and the Middle East.

S a t A D S L o f f e r s professional and cost-e f f ec t i ve IP access services over satellite in Africa and in the Middle East (MENA). Since 2010, SatADSL already installed more than 2.000 VSAT in over 35 countries in Africa and MENA. “By integrating SatADSL's CAPEX-free VNO flex services, our operations are not burdened by uncertain investment costs and unpredictable ROI prospects,” added Mr. Orazdurdyyev. “It also allows us to guarantee access to reliable and constant connectivity via satellite in a versatile range of areas.”

S a t A D S L c u r r e n t commercial project in West Africa is to develop an enhanced cybercafé platform to be piloted with up to 50 sites. Its solutions cover multi-satellite access, multiple f r e q u e n c y - b a n d operations including Ku-band, Ka-band and soon C-and, offering a wide range of products and services. Co-founder and Chief Operations Officer at SatADSL, Caroline De Vos said: “By supplying T ü r k m e n h e m r a s y ta i lored VSAT data s e r v i c e s w e a r e c o n t i n u i n g o u r deployment in hard to reach areas. In the c o v e r a g e a r e a o f Tu rkmenA lem 52°E satellite there are some areas where we could increase our presence and bui ld a strong business us ing our experience and reach more people with our unique service than ever before.”

Ghana to leverage on ICT, telecom to respond to disasters

The government of Ghana is developing strategies to position ICT and telecommunications at the heart of country's Emergency Response Operations to alleviate disasters. The strategies include the formation of a multi-center base ruled to draw a national telecommunication emergency plan and identification of the various disasters the nation is exposed to, the areas of impact, measuring the potential occurrence and grading them.The other are the identification of the various ICT tools available to disaster managers and the citizens to inform data gathering, communication among the d isas ter coord ina tors and communications between disaster coordinators and the people based on areas of predicted disasters and the development of specific plans of actions with mobile network operators and broadband wireless access operators.The rest are, assessment of existing ICT tools of the state in disaster management, the creation of early warning systems, identification of disasters risks and potential areas that require some early warning systems to reduce the impact and the creation of national emergency telecommunication centres to coordinat ion al l emergency communications including links with the ITU and sister agencies for satellite support.Prince OfosuSefah, a Deputy Director General at the National Communications Authority, disclosed this on Thursday March 28, 2019, at a two-day training workshop on Disaster Response and Humanitarian Crises Management organized by the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications (GCT) in partnership with the Global System for M o b i l e C o m m u n i c a t i o n s , N a t i o n a l Communications Authority and the Bureau of National Communications in Accra.This initiative is part of a wider effort to improve coordination between mobile operators, regulatory authorities, government agencies and the humanitarian community to not just prepare to respond to disasters but leverage mobile technology as well as other critical technological tools to plan, predict, respond effectively or mitigate completely the effect of potential disasters. Over the last few months, there have been several earth tremor counts, with scientists predicting an imminent earthquake with its associated challenges. The workshop therefore sought to explore around the world techniques being deployed by countries similar to Ghana and allow Ghana to adopt flexible approaches to policy during emergencies to positively impact response efforts. Mr. Sefah said the regulations allows mobile networks to be used for emergency communication during periods of emergencies, adding that it was, therefore, important for the operators to understand how to use their services to save lives and properties during and after disasters.Chief Executive of the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications, Mr. Kenneth Ashigbey, called for simulations among all stakeholders within the disaster management ecosystem to leverage ICT and telecommunications services to mitigate disasters and humanitarian crises facing our country. "There's a need to collaborate with our little pockets of excellence and experience to mitigate and respond effectively to disasters

Egypt to experiment 5G during 2019 Africa Cup of Nations

SatADSL, Türkmen hemrasy team up to deliver satellite services to EMENA

IN THE NEWS

Four O3b Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) sa te l l i t es we re successfully launched by Arianespace at the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana on 4 April, according to a new release by SES. The Soyuz launch marks a significant milestone in SES's O3b MEO journey, bringing the number of O3b satellites to 20, and making the transition into its next-generation MEO sys tem. The seamless scalability of the constellation means that the additional sate l l i tes wi l l enhance coverage across the globe and enable SES Networks to provide greater service availability and reliability to cater to the increasing demand for ne tworked a p p l i c a t i o n s i n t h e government, telecom, cloud, maritime and energy markets. The satellites were built by Thales Alenia Space.

As the only operationally- and commercially-proven non-geostationary satellite orbit ( N G S O ) b r o a d b a n d constellation, the O3b MEO system has been successful since its first launch in 2013. It is the only satellite-based system currently delivering fibre-like high-performance

data connectivity services, MEF Car r ie r E thernet cer t i f ied serv ices and certified Cloud connectivity services. The unique high-throughput O3b constellation has been key in helping SES achieve its bold vision of changing lives by connecting people. Its positive impact can be felt by customers operating in nearly 50 countries: Benefitting mobile networks with more than 15 million end u s e r s Serving 4 out of the 6 oil & gas super majors in key o f f s h o r e m a r k e t s Empowering an exceptional connectivity experience to 4 out of the 5 leading global c r u i s e l i n e s Working with government and humanitarian agencies to restore connectivity for millions affected by natural disasters in Peru and Puerto Rico“This launch marks a very important part in the O3b journey. We started O3b with this bold vision of changing lives by connecting people. We wanted to create a meaningful impact, and we have. We have connected underserved communities w i th h igh-per formance internet. We have restored

connectivity across disaster zones. We have changed the notion tha t you can ' t be as connected at sea as on land. And we have made the cloud available to businesses where it was never possible before,” said John-Paul Hemingway, Chief Executive Officer of SES Networks.

“As this launch completes our first-gen O3b system of 20 satellites, it also marks the transition into our next-generation MEO system, O3b mPOWER, the only fully-funded NGSO broadband system in development today. W h e n O 3 b m P O W E R launches in 2021, SES will bring massive scale to our proven O3b model – driving digital transformation and cloud adoption virtually everywhere on the planet.”

Located almost 8,000 km away from the earth 's s u r f a c e , t h e O 3 b constellation delivers fibre-equivalent performance and has massive geographic reach, enabling the delivery of high-performance data networks and solutions – including cloud services and applications – across the globe.

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O3b satellites roar into space, scaling SES's MEO constellation

Sudatel participate in the successful launch of Arabsat 6A satellite

The Sudatel Telecom Group, through one of its companies Sudasat and Hajar Group, in partnership with Canar Telecom, witnessed the launch of Arabsat 6A satellite at orbital position 30.5, which includes a load of four Ka-band transponders, through which Sudasat will provide broadband communications and broadband services across the Sudanese territory to Internet providers, VSAT subscribers and mobile network operators.

It also provides multi-purpose solutions for commercial and government sectors. Arabsat 6A includes many of state- of- Art services that makes it the most satellite up- to- date, effective, flexible and versatile as it has a high capacity and provides digital broadcasting, telecommunications and Internet services to the customers in Sudan

It is worth mentioning that this satellite ground station services is hosted by the Sudatel Telecom Group via Abu Haraz satellite station

The satel l i te has been launched successfully from Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA after all necessary measures have been completed. This operation has been a t t e n d e d b y E n g . TarigHamzaZainElabdein, President & CEO of Sudatel Group and Chairman of Board of Directors of Sudasat, who received an invitation from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and Arabsat for attending the launch operation. The President & CEO of Arabsat, member of Sudatel Board of Directors, Eng. Khalid Balkheyour and the CEO of Canar Telecom, Eng. HashimHasab El-Rasoul, witnessed this launch operation as well.

Arabsat President & CEO Khalid Bin Ahmed Balkheyour expressed his pleasure with this strategic partnership with Sudatel Group through Sudasat. He pointed out that the increasing demand for satellite telecommunication services in the region requires cooperation and agreement with leading companies, Providing high quality and reliable servicesEng. TarigHamzaZainElabdein, President & CEO of Sudatel Group, Chairman of Sudasat, said: "This move marks a milestone in the company's history and confirms its strategic plan to move the c o m p a n y t o a n i n t e g r a t e d telecommunications operator to deliver unpreceden ted serv ices th rough partnerships, upgrading it from the local and regional level to a much higher level. This move will be the first step in the process of launching a satellite for Sudan in which Sudatel will play a pivotal role through its foreign strategic partnerships” ZainElabdein concluded.

Newtec has announced that it has deployed a Newtec D i a l o g ® h u b f o r t h e AgenciaBol ivianaEspacia (ABE) which will enable the agency to extend access to residential broadband to at least 6,000 users. The service will be delivered via ABE's Tupac Katari 1 satellite in Ka-band. The project, which is part of the government's National Broadband Plan, will serve the currently unserved Bolivian population at an affordable rate of entry for plans ranging from 4Mbps download and 1Mbps upload, and will mirror a similar cost of residential broadband access found in urban areas. The service will utilize the MDM2210 DVB-S2X IP satellite modem which is a two-way, high throughput

modem that supports a wide range of IP services such as Internet/intranet access, Voice over IP (VoIP) and multicasting services. Its ease of installation, high-performance modulation techniques and integrated Wi-F i enable network opera tors to o f fe r IP broadband services in a cost-effective way over Ku- and Ka-band networks. The Bolivian government recognizes the importance o f the ava i lab i l i t y o f broadband services both for businesses and the general population of the country and aims to connect 50 percent of households to an Internet service by 2020.“The introduction of the Newtec Dialog HUB will give ABE the flexibility and scalability as they continue

to introduce broadband services to the Bolivian population via their world-class teleport,” said Bart Van U t te rbeeck , VP Sou th America, Newtec. “Newtec is very pleased that the Bolivian Space Agency has placed its confidence in us,” added Ramon Er tze, Account Manager, Newtec. “We look forward to helping to enable future social inclusion and economic growth in Bolivia.” The Newtec Dialog HUB has been i ns ta l l ed a t t he Amachuma ground station, located 4,000 meters above sea level, which literally takes Newtec technology to new heights. The ground station accommodates Tupac Katari 1 ' s t w o 1 2 0 M H z transponders. ABE is now embarking on commercial rollout of the service.

Bolivian Space deploys Newtec Dialog hub

Mobile units of the operator have been deployed in five k e y r e g i o n s f o r d a t a collection. The regulator also collects data on the services provided by the various domain registries that host thousands of websites and blogs in the country. This is aimed at bringing order in a sector where there are numerous complaints of traffic redirection and the proliferation of fake news websites.

Radio frequency spectrum is a natural resource that can be used to i nc rease the efficiency and productivity of a nation. It is used to provide a wide variety of radio-communication services including personal and corporate communications, r a d i o n a v i g a t i o n , aeronautical and maritime radio, broadcasting, public s a f e t y a n d d i s t r e s s

operations, radio location and amateur radio. Therefore, f r e q u e n c y s p e c t r u m management tasks call for planning and coordination of frequency spectrum usage at international and national l e v e l s ; a l l o c a t i n g a n d a s s i g n i n g s p e c t r u m na t i ona l l y, mon i t o r i ng , inspection and resolving frequency interference.I n t e r n a t i o n a l Telecommunication Union (ITU) is a specialized agency of the United Nations which is responsible for regulation of s p e c t r u m u s e a t t h e international level and in p a r t i c u l a r , i t s ' Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R). Its' rules are written by its' member states and administered by the ITU's Radiocommunication Bureau (BR) and the conformity with the rules supported by regulationsat the national level.

T h e C o m m u n i c a t i o n s A u t h o r i t y o f K e n y a announces the future publication of a report on the quality of telecom, internet and digital services offered by operators in the Kenyan market. In the new report, apart from measuring the quality of voice and data services, the regulator also measures some other segments. Accord ing to F ranc is Wangusi, director of the regulatory agency, the project initiated early this year was spurred by the increasing complaints of users in various segments.The regulator indicates that its new grading system takes into account the c u s t o m e r e x p e r i e n c e allowing users to grade these service providers based on performances, network availability, service cost and customer support.

Farhad Khan, Chief Commercial Officer, Yahsat

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IN THE NEWS

State-of-the-art Terralink Hub and RF uplink station from Marlink delivers full VSAT service capability for customers and consolidates association with the Muscat-based business group.Marlink's partnership with Mahd Satellite has been further cemented with the installation of a new Terralink Hub and RF uplink station at its headquarters in Muscat, in the Sultanate of Oman. The flexibility of this fully-managed network operator service from Marlink enables Mahd Satell ite to offer a comprehensive range of VSAT communications capabilities for its customers while controlling the infrastructure to function within the country's regulatory framework.Marlink's managed Terralink Hub service supplies a complete end-to-end VSAT connect iv i ty solution which features 24/7 Level 2 monitoring and control p l us f u l l ma rke t i ng and engineering support, with value-added IP services including internet backbone access, routing, f irewall ing and a customer portal.For Mahd Satellite, the breadth and adaptability of the Terralink

Hub's managed service translates into a highly efficient and cost-effective means of meeting network capacity requirements and providing internet access for end-users to access diverse applications from business-critical email and video streaming to web browsing and support of internet apps. The service is specially adapted to sectors including defence, oi l and gas, security, telecoms and IT, construction and utilities.

“The installation of our versatile Terralink Hub on Mahd Satellite's premises in Oman signifies a very promising development in the continuing alliance b e t w e e n o u r t w o companies,” stated Kevin Thorley, Head of Sales Middle East, Marlink. “Not only is it an affirmation of the sat isfact ion which our connectivity services have a l r e a d y d e l i v e r e d , complying to a set of e x t r e m e l y s p e c i f i c parameters, but it also a c c e n t u a t e s o u r commitment to facilitating

business development for our partners in the Middle East.“By providing Mahd Satellite with the ability to manage its own infrastructure, we have b e e n i n s t r u m e n t a l i n repositioning the company as a satellite operator, as opposed to a reseller, and we look forward to expediting many more partnerships in the future with a group that genuinely epitomises the 'Marlink Entrepreneur spirit'.”

“Mahd Satellite has always operated on the principle that business momentum and long-term success can be best achieved through partnerships with industry-leading global concerns,” added a Mahd Satellite spokesman, “and Marlink is in a field of its own when it comes to great value, end-to-end managed connectivity and IT solutions, reinforced by full service support plans. We're pleased to have Marlink's expertise to draw upon as we continue to make headway in Omani market sectors requiring VSAT services.”

SES’s Operations room at its headquarters in Luxembourg

Minister orders completion of AIT lab in Nigeria

Nigeria's Minister of Science and Technology, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu, says Assembly and Integration Testing (AIT) lab project is a must for the development of space science technology in the country. Onu said this at the inauguration of space museum, planetorium and space incubation centre of the National Space and Research Development Agency (NASRDA) in Abuja. Established on 5th of May 1999, the government-owned space agency is at the forefront of space science and policies in Nigeria. The Agency boasts of operating three earth observation satellites in space and collaborated with the Nigerian C o m m u n i c a t i o n s S a t e l l i t e LT D (NIGCOMSAT) and the Federal University of Techno logy Aku re to l aunch two geosynchronous communication satellites and one education cubesat, respectively.

Other projects inaugurated include Space Environment Lab of Centre for Atmospheric Research of the agency, Sports arena and the Institute of Space Science and Engineering. Planetorium is a place where activities in space can be viewed in real world. The inauguration of the projects was part of activities to mark the 20 years of establishment of NASRDA on May 5. The AIT lab of NASRDA had been under construction for the past 12 years. The minister said that the country had the human capacity to manufacture, design and locally launch its satellite, hence the need to develop its indigenous space industry.He added that the inaugurated projects would ensure that space science technology in the country was consolidated for the benefit of the younger generation aspiring to build careers in the area.He said in the next 20 to 30 years, the workforce of the agency will be phased out and we need to prepare our young ones for the space industry. We have to start preparing them to be interested in space technology development, which is why the completion of the AIT lab is a must for Nigeria.With the completion of the AIT lab, it will give opportunity to our engineers to design satellites for Nigeria and for other countries a n d t h a t w i l l b e n e f i t u s economically.According to him, completing the AIT lab will facilitate the launch of Nigerian satellite from its soil. He said that in few years to come, the population of the country would increase tremendously and it is very important that we prepare now for our future.

The Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu assured Nigerians that the investments the Federal Government is making in space researchand development would give great returns.'' Space technology remains the most powerful tool and driving force of developed nations across the globe'', he said, adding that Nigeria's decision toembrace the technology is timely and a right step towards economic development.

Marlink and Mahd Group expand partnership to offer connectivity in Oman

Kenyan authority publishes service quality report giving priority to client experience

In its earliest days, the Internet was like a small community of known users, numbering about a million where authentication was not necessary and the norms were simple in a climate of trust. All of this changed with burgeoning growth and commercial use, as over three billion users now compete for attention, power, influence and control making the Internet the biggest platform of modern economic, social, military and political life.

Iin the last two decades and a half, the number of websites burgeoned, and businesses now use this new technology to shift production and procurement in complex global supply chains.

While accessibility of cyberspace as a medium of communication have provided valuable benefits to all, behavior of some users in the form of crime, attacks and threats have also increased worldwide. Governments and non-state actors mow cooperate and compete for power in the world of cyberspace. Cyber security is an emerging national security challenge for countries across the world as cyber attack have become more advanced and frequent over the years A number of attack have threaten major institutions and actors.

Governments want to protect the Internet so their societies can continue to benefit from it, but at the same time, they also want to protect their societies from cyber crimes and cyber warfare. To a large extent, information economy depends on the information security. Without the security of the internet, the information economy cannot sustain its development. On the other hand, information security depends on technology development. Therefore, developing and least developed countries may face significant challenges in meeting the requirements of the global market place without information security. The lack of technology development in information security has constituted a serious infrastructure deficiency that is enlarging the digital divide.As the Internet has grown, so has connectivity, enabling attackers to break into an increasing number of systems. This

is often possible because non-secure systems are used and many of them cannot resist a determined attack if they are not well protected and monitored. Public attack tools are available. Security solutions or patches are not always implemented. . Human weaknesses are a reality. Today, there is still a lack of a global consistent and dynamic security approach. Existing security technologies are fallible or could be circumvented. Moreover it is difficult to define and s u p p o r t a n e f f e c t i v e s e c u r i t y management process.

Every actor dealing with an information and communication device, tool or service, for professional or private issues, needs information security. It is true for governmental institutions as for big or small organisations and individuals.

“Indeed, for Africa, reducing digital

divide via investment in

infrastructure only, would result in the

creation of a security divide as prejudicial

as the digital divide”.

Online criminals use the Internet in various ways. Some use another person's identity in order to make purchases on the victim's account. This is frequently done by means of credit or debit-card fraud. Recently, an Internet web services company had identified that 140,000 fake credit card charges, were processed through its transaction system on a specific day, by a computer scam that may have affected as many as 25 companies. The apparent fraud suggests that a computer criminal may have obtained a sizable list of stolen credit card numbers. From these stolen credits cards numbers, the defrauder has generated new and

valid credit card numbers.

Sometimes ago, a satellite television network was the target of distributed denial of service attack. A large amount of traffic was send to the name servers responsible for the targeted websites, leading to the breaking down of services. This attack aimed to disrupt television network servers and thus to shut down all related services. The main negative consequence was the decision of hosting companies to stop hosting the site in order to maintain service to their other customers.

ICT security is not just a cultural problem that has a technology dimension. It is also a regulatory issue. A cyberspace regulatory framework could help to transform the Internet into a safer place to conduct activities. An adapted legal framework and laws that are applicable to the digital world must be operational at the national level and internationally compatible. Security solutions can protect a given environment in a particular context, but cannot prevent criminal behaviour altogether. Legal institutions and the law exist to dissuade criminal behaviour and to bring to justice people who carry out illegal acts. At the same time qualified justice system and pol ice author i t ies ski l led in new technologies and cybercrime can also enforce the legal aspects of information technologies and cooperate with their partners at the international level.

Indeed, computer-related crime is sophisticated, and is usually committed across national borders, frequently with a time delay. The traces it leaves in the systems are intangible and difficult to gather and save. They take the form of digital information stored on all sorts of media: working memory, storage peripherals, hard discs, external discs and USB sticks, as well as electronic components. The problem is how to capture the wide variety of evidence turned up in a digital search. Therefore, A nation's ability to deter, detect, investigate and prosecute cybercriminals' activities is one of the most important components for a f f o r d i n g s e c u r e i n f o r m a t i o n infrastructures.

Courtesy- SpaceX

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Whilst the monetary value of hardware is easy to assess, the value of data is far less simple to quantify. This report suggest that Communication infrastructure must have high performance and be secure in order not to be the weak link of the information chain of e-Government applications

Securing the cyberspace

OPINION

Courtesy- SpaceX

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N T A i s b r o a d c a s t i n g t o U S A , C a n a d a a n d E u r o p e . V i e w e r s i nWashington DC, USA, can receive NTA signals on MHz TV and COMCAST Cable and in addition via Satellite on INTELSAT America- 5 (1. A-5). Viewer in other parts of USA and Canada can receive NTA via satellite on INTELSAT America - 5 (1.A-5). In Europe NTA can be received via

Satellite INTELSAT 95.

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IN THE NEWS

Indonesia's iForte signs major capacity contracts on Telesat's new Telstar 18 VANTAGE satellite

Telesat announced that iForte, a leading provider of Universal Service Obligation VSAT services in Indonesia, has signed major contracts for Ku-band HTS and C-band capacity on Telesat's new Telstar 18 VANTAGE satellite. The contracts result from iForte's recent selection by Indonesia's Ministry of Communication and Information Technology to support the Ministry's program of providing “Internet Fixed Broadband and Mobile Cellular Backhaul over Indonesia via a GEO Fixed Satellite Services (FSS) system.” Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous country, comprises over 17,000 islands, of which roughly 6,000 are inhabited. Providing broadband communications to such a highly dispersed population has long been a goal of the Indonesian government. To achieve this, Indonesia's Ministry of Communication and Information Technology initiated a competitive procurement early in 2018 for a geostationary FSS solution using HTS technology. iForte's proposal relied on Telstar 18 VANTAGE, a new Telesat sate l l i te that recent ly entered commercial service. iForte, a longstanding Telesat customer, has been using C-band capacity on Telesat's Telstar 18 to provide USO VSAT services in Indonesia for over 10 years. Once the Ministry began its procurement process, iForte worked with Telesat to make Telstar 18 VANTAGE a core component of its p roposed so lu t ion fo r serv ing Indonesia's broadband requirements. After iForte received notice of its se lect ion under the Min is t ry 's procurement process, it contracted with Te l e s a t f o r m u l t i p l e C - b a n d transponders on Telstar 18 VANTAGE for the life of the satellite and entered into a separate multi-year contract for all of Telesat's HTS spot beams on the same satellite. “iForte is honored to have been selected b y I n d o n e s i a ' s M i n i s t r y o f Communication and Information Technology to implement a high performing, cost effective broadband satellite solution across our country,” said Peter Djatmiko, iForte's President Director & CEO. “This award would not have been possible without the close working relationship between iForte and Telesat. By relying on the advanced capabilities of Telstar 18 VANTAGE, iForte was able to propose to the

Ministry a highly innovative GEO satellite solution that offers both cost effectiveness and superior broadband performance. We look forward to working with Telesat and the Ministry on the implementation phase and providing an exciting broadband experience to millions of users across Indonesia.” “We would like to congratulate iForte on winning this competitive procurement and thank them for making Telstar 18 VANTAGE a central component of its proposed solution to the Government of Indonesia that will expand and improve b roadband connec t i v i t y f o r a l l Indonesians,” said Dan Goldberg, Telesat's President and CEO. “This is an important success for both companies and another example of how Telesat's col laborat ive approach with our customers results in highly innovative solutions that benefit consumers and enterprises throughout the world. Telesat values its close working relationship with iForte and looks forward to continuing to support its mission of serving the people of Indonesia.”

Regulator to fine companies providing poor-quality communication services’

The Afghanistan Telecommunications Regulatory Author i ty (ATRA), a government agency superv is ing telecommunication services, has ordered the private telecommunication companies to correct their activities and provide high-quality call and internet services to the people, otherwise, it says would penalize them.Officials at the authority said that in a meeting held with the representatives from telecommunication companies on Saturday, they promised to work for improvement of their call and internet services in the New Afghan Year.“The telecommunication companies promised to increase investment on their networks and frequencies in the year of 1389 to improve services. We also seriously probe the quality of internet services according to the license conditions. We will share fines imposed on the violator companies,” said Mohammad NajibAzizi, head of the authority. The users of social networks have recently launched a campaign to protest low quality of internet services. They consider the ATRA guilty.

The ATRA says that communication companies accepted not to charge customer service calls, while they used to do in the past. Wahidollah, a Kabul

PSLV-C45 successfully launches EMISAT and 28 customer satellites

India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C45) has successfully launched EMISAT and 28 international customer satellites from SatishDhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR in Sriharikota. This flight marked the first mission of PSLV-QL, a new variant of PSLV with four strap-on motors. PSLV-C45 lifted off from the Second Launch Pad and injected India's EMISAT into a 748 km sun-synchronous polar orbit, 17 minutes and 12 seconds after lift-off. After separation, the two solar arrays of EMISAT were deployed automatically and the ISRO Telemetry Tracking and Command Network at Bengaluru assumed control of the satellite. Following the separation of EMISAT, the vehicle's fourth stage engines were restarted twice to place the 28 international customer satellites precisely into a sun-synchronous orbit of 504 km height. The last customer satellite was placed into its designated orbit 1 hour and 55 minutes after lift-off.About 3 hours after lift-off, the fourth stage (PS4) of the vehicle was moved to a lower circular orbit of 485 km after two restarts to establish it as an orbital platform for carrying out experiments with its three payloads.EMISAT is a satellite built around ISRO's Mini Satellite-2 bus weighing about 436 kg. The satellite is intended for electromagnetic spectrum measurement. The 28 international customer satellites, together weighing about 220 kg, are from four countries, namely, Lithuania (2), Spain (1), Switzerland (1) and USA (24). These foreign satellites were launched as part of commercial arrangements.The payloads carried by PS4 are Automatic Identification System from ISRO, Automatic Packet Repeating System from AMSAT, India and Advanced Retarding Potential Analyzer for ionospheric studies from Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology. ISRO Chairman Dr K Sivan congratulated the launch vehicle and satellite teams involved in the mission. The PSLV mission was unique in several ways. It was a four strap-on new variant, the vehicle achieved three different orbits and for the first the PS4 stage is powered by solar panels,” Dr Sivan said. He added that a new PSLV team executed today's mission. Dr Sivan also placed on record the significant involvement of the industry in this mission. So far, PSLV has launched 46 national satellites, 10 satellites built by students from Indian Universities and 297 international customer satellites, were also launched successfully

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IN THE NEWS

resident complained for high fees and low internet quality. Sardar, another resident of the capital says that calling to police's urgent number and the fire fighting department was free previously, but now the companies charge for each. The companies of Afghan Wireless, Roshan, MTN, Etisalat, Salaam and Afghan Telecom are providing phone and internet services in the country.

Boeing, Australian Space Agency agree on future collaboration

Boeing and the Australian Space Agency have signed a Statement of Strategic Intent to help advance the agency's goals to expand Australia's domestic space industry. By 2030, Australia would like to grow the space market segment from AU$3.9 billion to AU$12 billion and double space industry employment from about 10,000 today to 20,000. The agreement features Boeing support for investments in R&D, innovation, STEM education and government programs aligned with the Australian Space Agency's priorities. “Expanding our relationship with the Australian Space Agency is a significant step for Boeing and a reaffirmation of our longtime teaming with Australia in space,” said Jim Chilton, Boeing senior vice president, Space and Launch.

“It means a lot that we've signed this agreement during a year when the world celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission to the moon, when both Boeing and Australia played important roles in that historic achievement. We see great opportunity ahead for all of us as Australia continues to grow its space industry and national capabilities.”Boeing has a long history of space-related projects in Australia, including: Launch of four new space R&D projects with Boeing's research partner of 30 years, the Commonwealth Science and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO); Use of Boeing-built Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS) and IS-22 satellites by the Australian Defence Force; Boeing Defence Australia is the prime contractor for the Australian Defence Force's Project LAND 2072 Phase 2B Currawong Battlespace Communications System, which will include Australian-developed satellite communications terminals for accessing the WGS satellite network;Boeing Australia's development of a virtual reality training system for the CST-100 Starliner, which will take passengers or a mix of crew and cargo on missions to low-Earth orbit; Boeing HorizonX

Ventures' investment in Adelaide-based Myriota, an Internet of Things (IoT) startup seeking to revolutionize satellite communications by providing low-cost access to high-value data in remote locations.A Boeing partnership with the University of Queensland, DST Group and the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory on the successful Hypersonic International Flight Research Experimentation (HIFiRE) program.Dr. Megan Clark AC, head of the Australian Space Agency, said the signing of the statement was an example of how collaboration and engagement across countries is an important aspect of the growing space economy, both in Australia and internationally. “This Statement of Strategic Intent h i g h l i g h t s B o e i n g ' s e x i s t i n g collaboration with CSIRO, universities and industry in broad areas such as space debris monitoring, advanced manufacturing and fuel production in space, on-orbit imaging, VR and remote space craft operation,” Dr. Clark said. “This partnership opens the doors for Australian innovators to participate in the global supply chain of the space sector.”Boeing's STEM efforts in Australia span universities and non-profits in order to help develop the future engineers and leaders of Australia's space industry. Boeing supports Space Squad, the A u s t r a l i a n Yo u t h A e r o s p a c e Association, the Australian Space Design Competition, and FIRST (For Inspiration & Recognition of Science and Technology) including its exciting robotics program “Mission Moon.”The Australian Space Agency is responsible for whole-of-government coordination of civil space matters. The Agency will transform and grow a globally respected space industry, and to reach and inspire all Australians through seven National Civil Space Priorities – Position, navigation and t i m i n g ; E a r t h o b s e r v a t i o n ; Communication technologies services; Leapfrog R&D; Space situational awareness; Robotics and automation; and Access to space. Through the Agency, Australia aims to significantly grow its market segment from 10,000 jobs and a market size of $3.9 billion to up to another 20,000 jobs and $12 billion by 2030.

Beam enters Indian Satellite market

Beam Communications Holdings Limited has signed a reseller agreement for Beam-branded Inmarsat equipment with a leading satellite solutions

company in the Indian market, Station Satcom.

The agreement formalises the partnership between Beam and Station Satcom after the Indian headquartered company recorded initial orders of Beam equipment worth US$250,000 since the start of calendar 2019, following the Indian government's approval to allow the sale and use of satellite devices on the Inmarsat satellite network. Inmarsat is the only global satellite service that is allowed to operate in India and most of Beam's products supplied to and sold by Station Satcom have been for its docking stations and its Oceana 800 satellite terminal, which is designed for maritime and in-building applications. Beam's docking stations are the only Inmarsat-approved docking units in the world and the Oceana 800 is the only device of its kind running on the Inmarsat GSPS Service. The Chief Executive Officer of Station Satcom, Anshul Khanna, said: “We are excited to have signed a reseller agreement with Beam after seeing such strong initial demand for its products in India. “We are expecting further robust sales of Beam's Inmarsat equipment as this is the first time we've been able to sell such equipment in the Indian market, and as the Inmarsat service gains greater market penetration. “Station Satcom has chosen to partner with Beam for its strong brand recognition in the industry and its long track record in developing and manufacturing reliable and high-quality satellite devices for global satellite network operators.” India is a new market for Beam and its expected to be a strong contributor to ongoing growth of the Beam equipment division, which enjoyed a 30% increase in sales in 1HFY19 over the previous corresponding period. Inmarsat officially launched its Indian GSPS Gateway in 2017, which wi l l enable Ind ian government and private sector customers to access its satellite phone services via Inmarsat's 4th generation constellation. The gateway will enable the Indian gove rnmen t t o p rov i de secu re communications to defence services, commercial enterprises, the maritime industry and India's remote communities.

NSSLGlobal brings next-generation unified comms to the Asia seas

NSSLGlobal has unveiled the latest addition to its maritime portfolio, FusionIP-LITE. Based on the award-winning FusionIP, FusionIP-LITE is specifically engineered for the Asia seas. For a single monthly service fee, FusionIP-LITE allows users to benefit from seamless automatic switching between cellular and satcom

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networks to ensure “always-on” connectivity with speeds of up to 40mbps. This unique NSSLGlobal solution also incorporates automatic WAN switching, an email service, core f i r e w a l l i n g , e N O A D a n d f i l e m a n a g e m e n t / s y n c h r o n i s a t i o n capabilities, all at no additional cost. FusionIP-LITE integrates the best of two communication worlds for the Asia seas. Cellular connectivity is the primary connection and satcom the secondary; when vessels move out of cellular range, they are seamlessly transitioned between networks to achieve “always-on” communications while ensuring optimum data speeds. NSSLGlobal'sFusionIP-LITE service uses a single 3G/4G/LTE SIM which is capable of delivering high-speed bandwidth up to 20km offshore — with download speeds of up to 40mbps — making it ideal for leisure, fishing and commercial vessels. FusionIP-LITE will help busy vessel operators passing through the coastal waters of several countries to benefit from the high-speed of cellular with the service assurance and coverage of satellite, all without changing multiple SIMs or dealing with a variety of providers and bills. FusionIP-LITE also utilises the new Iridium Certus Next constellation as a failsafe guarantee of “always-on” connectivity when outside of cellular coverage providing speeds up to 704kbps*. The great benefit is that the customer pays the same price no matter what network they use. Priya Patel, APAC Regional Sales Director, NSSLGlobal said: “Since its launch in late 2017, the award-winning FusionIP has been a phenomenal success and firm customer favourite, but its deployment has been limited to European coastal waters. We can expand our FusionIP suite as this service is based around our in-house engineered products. This enables NSSLGlobal to deliver solutions that are practical and rapidly bring them to market. This agility and engineering expertise differentiates us from our competitors. Now with FusionIP-LITE, vessel operators in Asia can also benefit from safer, smarter and more efficient operations thanks to the power of always-on communications.”

Tongan Government signs deal with Kacific for remote island connectivity

Kacific Broadband Satellites Group (Kacific) has signed a fifteen-year

agreement with Tonga Satellite Limited, a Tongan government company, to provide high speed broadband via satellite to the Pacific Island nation.The bandwidth supplied by Kacific's high throughput satellite, Kacific1, will be used to connect communities in 89 remote outer islands with high-quality internet – equivalent to that available in the main cities of Tonga. In the case of a fibre cable outage, similar to the one experienced over 12 days in January 2019, the satellite bandwidth can be redistributed and shared with Tonga's main centres.“Kacific will provide a formidable platform to d e v e l o p p o w e r f u l e - g o v e r n m e n t applications and ensure continuous improvement of these applications,” said HonourableDrTevitaTui'Uata, Minister for Commerce, Consumer, Trade, Innovation and Labour. “The Kacific system is uniquely designed for the rural and remote areas of our Pacific nations and beyond. It precisely meets the needs of Tonga to provide real universal access, finally completing full broadband access to all residents of Tonga, wherever they are.”“This system also uniquely provides backup to avoid deep digital disruption as we have observed in our recent fibre cut. We have seen first-hand the responsiveness and efficiency of the Kacific operations in such an event. With this agreement we look forward to moving these operations to the new powerful and Pacific-focused Kacific1 satellite” The bandwidth supplied by Kacific will be focused on government infrastructure such as hosp i ta ls , hea l th c l in ics and dispensaries, primary and secondary schools, police stations and post offices. The bandwidth will also be used to support local businesses and foster the creation of new platforms for economic development, such as cooperative marketplaces promoted by Tongan government. Christian Patouraux, CEO and founder of Kacific said, “Our satellite technology is remarkably effective in providing both low cost, accessible broadband to remote areas and fibre back-up for regional towns and cities. We are very pleased with this partnership with the Tongan Government w h i c h s h o w c a s e s h o w b u i l d i n g infrastructure in rural areas can help provide urban areas with back-up connectivity options in case of fibre malfunction or natural disaster. Until now, rural areas were depending on urban centres to distribute their bandwidth to them. With Kacific's solution for Tonga, urban centres need rural and remote areas in reciprocal cooperation to complete the urban infrastructure build up.” In January 2019, the international fibre cable that connects Tonga's capital Nuku?alofa to high speed internet was severed, leaving most of Tonga's people and organisations without access to the

IN THE NEWS ASIA

China launched two satellite for its GPSsystem (Source: China Daily

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internet or international phone calls. During the 12 days in which the cable was repaired, satellite technology was used to provide bandwidth to the nation. The Kingdom of Tonga is a Pacific Island nation with 36 inhabited islands of its 169 total islands. These stretch across approximately 800 kilometres of water. The population of just over 108,000 people, of which 82,000 are classified as living in rural areas, usually consume around 2.4 Gbps of broadband bandwidth.

Viasat, China Satcom partner to bring in-flight connectivity service to airlines over China

V i a s a t a n d C h i n a S a t e l l i t e Communications have announced an agreement for a strategic partnership to jointly provide in-flight connectivity (IFC) services within China for domestic and international airlines. Viasat and China Satcom will work in partnership to enable Viasat's global airline customers to have roaming connectivity when flying over China; provide IFC service to domestic flights within China; and enable Chinese airlines to roam onto Viasat's global network. China Satcom is a licensed telecommunications service provider in China and also owns and operates the most capable and extensive Ka-band spotbeam satellite system in China, which is the only Ka-band system currently available for IFC service in the country. A key international destination for leading global airlines, China is the second largest aviation market in the world according to research from the International Air Transport Association. As one of the fastest growing flying populations globally, and one of the most mobile and digitally-enabled, there is tremendous national interest in high-speed, high-quality IFC on flights in country. Yet today only about four percent of flights within China are connected.

“Our agreement with China Satcom is a significant step towards realizing a seamless global community of high performance IFC. China Satcom is now the only satellite operator and licensed service provider in China with the bandwidth resources to deliver the in-flight experience our airline customers have come to expect and depend on,” said Don Buchman, vice president and general manager, Commercial Aviation, Viasat.

“Our partnership is a natural way to

United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs and the CNSA, aims to bring together space application users and solut ion providers to forge new partnerships, enhance international space cooperation and contribute to the attainment of the sustainable development goals, according to Zhao.

Since 2016, China has set April 24 as the country's Space Day to mark the launch of its first satellite into space on April 24, 1970. This year's theme is to "pursue space dream for win-win cooperation." About 200 space officials, engineers and scientists from nearly 50 countries will participate in activities for Space Day in China this year.

During the same period, the CNSA and the European Space Agency will jointly organize a forum on Earth observation, while a Sino-Russian Moon observation forum will also be held. Zhao mentioned that China and France had deepened space cooperation in recent years.

China successfully sent an ocean-observing satellite into space in October of 2018, a joint mission pursued under close Sino-French space cooperation that enabled scientists for the first time to simultaneously study oceans, surface winds and waves.

China's Chang'e-4 mission, which made the first-ever soft landing on the far side of the moon earlier this year, embodies China's hope to combine wisdom in space exploration, with four payloads developed by the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden and Saudi Arabia. In February 2018, a seismic-electromagnetic satellite, jointly developed by China and Italy, was launched to study seismic precursors, which might help establish a ground-space earthquake monitoring and forecasting network.

China and Brazil had conducted space cooperation for more than 30 years, with a new Earth resources satellite, jointly developed by the two countries, to be launched this year, Zhao added.

Baidu, China Telecom to partner further over AI, 5GChinese AI giant Baidu has announced plans to deepen partnership with China Telecom to cooperate in fields such as 5G, smart homes, intelligent clouding services and intelligent driving. As part of the comprehensive strategic partnership, the application of Baidu's smart speaker technology and products will be promoted to introduce intelligent gadgets and services to more Chinese families, according to Baidu. Baidu and China

Telecom are working together on edge computing, a core 5G technology, and will explore edge computing platform serv ices and AI research and development.

The two parties will also leverage their s t rengths in 5G presence and autonomous driving capabilities for c o m m e r c i a l u s e o f d r i v e r l e s s technologies. Baidu CEO Robin Li expects the enhanced partnership to not only speed up industrial upgrading, but also create more AI-based telecom application scenarios.

Teleglobal brings broadband access and mobile connectivity services to rural communities in Indonesia via SES Networks

Communities in remote areas of Indonesia will soon be able to enjoy reliable broadband internet access delivered by Teleglobal enabled by SES Networks' managed data services and the SES-12 satellite, SES announced.

Under a new agreement, Teleglobal and SES Networks will be partaking in the Ministry of Communicat ion and Information Technology's universal service obligation (USO) project via its USO agency Badan Aksesibilitas Telekomunikasi dan Informasi (BAKTI) to provide broadband internet access and mobile backhaul services to 150,000 sites in remote parts of the country.

The five-year agreement will see Teleglobal contract 1.3 GHz of capacity on SES-12, one of SES' high throughput satellites (HTS) covering the Asia-Pacific region, with an option to extend for a further five years. The largest SES GEO HTS covering Asia-Pacific has six regional beams and 72 high throughput user spot beams and can provide cost-effective solutions for broadcasters, content operators, mobile network operators, internet service providers, enterprise, maritime and aeronautical and government customers across Asia-Pacific and the Middle East.

According to data released by Indonesian Internet Service Providers Association (APJII), 55 percent of the country's population were connected to the internet in 2017. Internet penetration reached 72 percent of the urban population and 48 percent in rural areas. However, internet penetration rates dropped significantly

IN THE NEWS

extend state-of-the-art services specific to China Satcom's fleet and the China domestic market, and create a global roaming alliance for our existing and new domestic and international customers and the rapidly growing Chinese global commercial airline fleet. We are honored to work with China Satcom in China to make IFC-at-scale a reality.”

Viasat and China Satcom will jointly develop and share in future China-based IFC business.

Viasat will deliver and support its award-winning IFC equipment to airlines tailored for use on the China Satcom network. Today approximately 2,000 global aircraft are already served by, or planned for use on Viasat's ViaSat-1 and KA-SAT satellites, as well as compatible satellites operating in Australia, Brazil, and other cooperating regional and global markets.

China Satcom wil l leverage its telecommunications service provider business license, operating expertise, and existing ground infrastructure to lead delivery of advanced IFC services to the airlines.

China Satcom's growing Ka-band fleet includes the already operational ChinaSat-16 satellite as well as ChinaSat-18, planned for launch later in 2019. Per the terms of the agreement, each company will maintain its own intellectual property and will operate its equipment using a multi-layered approach to network services. This ag reement spec i f i ca l l y cove rs commercial aviation IFC, but could extend into the development of new connectivity applications for other ancillary markets in China. Financial terms of the agreement are not being disclosed.

China to enhance international space cooperation

China wi l l p romote aerospace development, strengthen international cooperation and contribute Chinese wisdom, plans and strength in man's peaceful utilization of outer space, said an official with China National Space Administration (CNSA). Zhao Jian, deputy director of the Department of System Engineering of CNSA, said at a press conference that the "Forum on Space Solut ions: Realizing the Sustainable Development Goals" will be held in Changsha, capital of central China's Hunan Province, from April 24 to 27.The forum, co-organized by the

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outside of the most populous island of Java (58 percent), reaching less than 20 percent of the population in Sumatra (19 percent) and standing at only 2.5 percent in the outlying provinces of Maluku-Papua.

In view of this, Teleglobal and SES' project is aimed at complementing the ongoing Palapa Ring project spearheaded by BAKTI, which involves connecting the major islands in Indonesia with 11,000km of undersea fibre-optic cables to provide broadband internet infrastructure.

“Teleglobal is honoured to be chosen by Indonesia's Ministry of Communication and Information Technology as one of the key providers for satellite capacity for the BAKTI project. At Teleglobal, we believe in the power of connectivity, in opening new doors of opportunity to communities in Indonesia and around the world,” said Candra Indianto, Teleglobal Director.

“With the new service offering, Teleglobal is bridging the digital divide and bringing much-needed e-Government and other essential services to the underserved rural communities of Indonesia. SES Networks' unparalleled global reach and operational expertise make them the ideal partner to provide reliable, high-speed broadband connectivity to all corners of Indonesia.”“Satellite-based networks are ideal for USO projects as they provide scalable and easily-deployed broadband access to remote locations, where conventional terrestrial-based networks may take a far longer time and be cost-prohibitive to deploy,” said Imran Malik, Vice President, Global Fixed Data at SES Networks. “We are honoured that we are able to transform people's lives by working jointly together wi th Teleglobal to del iver h igh-performance data connectivity services for the archipelago via SES-12, which has recently secured landing rights for operations in Indonesia. Internet connectivity and mobile services will not only empower these underserved communities, but also unlock the as-yet-untapped economic potential of the digital economy.”

The new satellite-based service will be rolled out across 15,000 locations in Indonesia in the first phase, which will enter service in Q3 2019

Arianespace to launch “SAR” satellite StriX-á aboard Vega for Japanese startup company Synspective

Arianespace announced the signing of a launch service contract with Synspective

for the launch of the satellite StriX-á (with a liftoff mass of approximately 150 kg.) into a Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO) in 2020. This will be the inaugural mission for a Synspective customer spacecraft on an Arianespace vehicle. The launch will take place from the Guiana Space Center in French Guiana using a Vega launcher.Synspective is a Japanese startup company that will establish a synthetic aper tu re radar (SAR) sa te l l i t e constellation of about 25 satellites and provide geospatial solutions. Gathering broad and high frequency monitoring data with its satellite constellation, Synspective aims to enable companies and governments to achieve their goal for sustainable development and resilient urban development through visualization and prediction of economic activity, monitoring of terrain and structure and immediate understanding of disaster situations.In addition to the launch service contract, Synspective and Arianespace signed a Strategic Partnership Agreement to study a future cooperation.Following the contract signature, Motoyuki Arai, founder & Chief Executive Officer of Synspective, said, “I feel very honored to work together with a world-leading launch services provider, Arianespace, to launch our first satellite. This is a momentous stepping stone for the constellation which will bring innovation for data-driven business and sustainable development. I'm also very excited about the joint study to mutually enhance our business and technical strength. I want to thank everyone who made these collaborations come true.”Stéphane Israël, Chief Executive Officer of Arianespace, added, “Arianespace is delighted to welcome Synspective as a new cus tomer, enhanc ing ou r relationship with Japan and once again proving the relevance of our launch services offering for Earth observation satellites. With Vega in 2020 and through a more global partnership, we are looking forward to contributing to the deployment of the Synspective constellation, which puts innovation in space at the service of a better life on Earth.”

Thai satellite to launch on 3D-printed rocket from Cape Canaveral

The manifest for a 3D-printed rocket soon to be blasting off from the Space Coast continues to grow with the announcement that a Thailand-based space company has selected Relativity Space's Terran 1 rocket to launch its satellite. Based in California, Relativity Space has patented 3D printing to build its rocket in less than 60 days, cutting down hardware parts and costs to launch. The company's

rocket will launch from from Cape Canaveral Air Station's Launch Complex 16, beginning at the end of 2020, company leaders say. Relativity CEO Tim Ellis and Jordan Noone, a former SpaceX development engineer, founded the company in 2015 with the end goal of 3D printing rockets on Mars. On April 5, the aerospace startup aiming to disrupt the way rockets are built announced its first official launch contract with the Canadian satellite operator Telesat. On Tuesday, Asian space technology company mu Space announced it also will fly a satellite on Terran 1.To celebrate the announcement, an LED light show on the Pearl building in Bangkok displayed a 3D printed rocket, along with astronauts waving Thai and American flags and the Relativity and mu Space logos.Mu Space is developing both Low Earth Orbit and and Geosynchronous Earth Orbit satellites to fuel smart cities through the company's Internet of Things devices. The company also makes a wearable tech, including a 360-degree security camera that could be worn by law enforcement officers, active duty military and security.The mu Space satellite, launching sometime in 2022, will support space situational awareness of in-orbit debris, and the company's broader Internet of Things strategy. Like Relativity Space, mu Space leaders have interplanetary goals. Company officials have said they want to colonize the moon with 100 people in the next 10 years.In January, mu Space announced it plans to participate in the Moon Race, a global competition backed by Airbus, Blue Origin and the European Space Agency, designed to develop technology for sustainable lunar explorations. Mu Space CEO and founder James Yenbamroong said the company wants to land a spacecraft on the moon by 2028.“Mu Space is accelerating space technology development in Asia, and we consider the moon as the next explorable body in space beyond Ear th , ” Yenbamroong said. “Relativity has the vision, team, and technology to deliver exceptional advantages in launching mu Space's payloads, and supporting our goal of creating an interplanetary society in the future.” The satellite will launch from Cape Canaveral in 2022 as the primary payload into Low Earth Orbit.

S p e e d c a s t b r i n g s seamless connectivity to Indian Waters with Nelco partnership

Speedcast International Limited has signed a partnership agreement with

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India's fastest growing VSAT service provider Nelco Limited, a Tata Enterprise, to offer seamless global communications while at sea in Indian waters. This is the first partnership of its kind where vessels of either company will be able to connect to the Ku-band networks of both companies seamlessly in and out of Indian waters. In this partnership, Nelco will also extend to its customers Speedcast's industry-leading products and services, which include cybersecurity, crew welfare, content solutions, and data and voice applications.Until today, when vessels entered Indian territory, they were required to shut down their VSAT connection. Under the new partnership agreement, customers of either company can roam into each other's respective territories of coverage and maintain uninterrupted communications while at sea."In this partnership with Nelco we are able to open up the Indian market to drive new growth for both Speedcast and Nelco, as well as deliver the best possible customer experience," said Speedcast CEO Pierre-Jean Beylier. "We are proud to be offering a unique proposition to thousands of vessels sailing in and out of Indian waters every year and we look forward to a long and mutually beneficial relationship between Speedcast and Nelco." "In this day and age, ship managers and owners want a broadband maritime service on board their ships that is truly global and reliable," said Nelco MD & CEO P J Nath. "In our endeavor to offer a seamless global service to our customers, we have partnered with Speedcast, the world's largest and most robust network service provider. This partnership provides us the opportunity to increase our presence in the maritime industry and paves the way to provide even greater value to our customers with a complete communications service portfolio that includes hardware, applications and services.”Under this agreement, Speedcast will integrate with the Nelco network to allow either parties' customers to maintain connection while roaming between the different satellite coverage beams and teleports. With an integrated network, the service achieves global IP access for remote terminals and optimizes the global connect iv i ty exper ience for our customers.

Speedcast International Ltd 2018 annual report

Speedcast's Revenue grew 21% to USD 623.1 million, including USD 7.5m contribution from two acquisitions completed in 2018 and the full year impact of acquisitions completed in 2017. In 2018, Speedcast achieved strong organic growth across three of its

!divisions (Maritime, Government, and Enterprise and Emerging Markets (EEM)), however Energy division revenue continued to decline due to ongoing delays in the offshore Energy market recovery. Despite a challenging year the Company had several significant achievements, including signing the two biggest customer contracts in company history, completing the strategic Globecomm acquisition (at an attractive valuation and doubling revenue in the high growth Government division), and establishing a back office shared service centre model including transitioning to a common ERP systemMaritime revenue grew 10% to USD 219.7 million. This growth was driven primarily by VSAT activations in Commercial Shipping and bandwidth growth and customer wins in the Cruise business.Energy revenue was down 14% to USD 158.3 million due to continued delays in the recovery of the offshore Energy sector. However, second half 2018 revenues were 8% higher than first half 2018 revenuesEEM revenue grew 27% to USD 147.9 million. This strong growth was driven by the first phase of the NBN contract in Australia as well as growth in wholesale voice activityGovernment revenue was USD 97.3 million in 2018. On a pro forma basis1 this represents a 16% increase, driven primarily by growth in intelligence, surveil lance and reconnaissance services and increased U.S. defence spending.Statutory profit for the year after tax attributable to owners of the Company decreased by 69% to USD 1.9 million.

The statutory results include costs which are non-recurring in nature, such as acquisition-related costs, integration costs, accelerated amortisation of loan establishment costs and foreign exchange gains on forward contracts undertaken in relation to acquisition funding. The financial performance of the Group excluding these non-recurring factors has also been presented in this report and is identified as being the "underlying" result.

Speedcast strengthens team with appointment of Barrie Woolston as Senior Vice President

Speedcast Internat ional L imi ted announced that Barrie Woolston has been appointed Senior Vice President of the company's Media and Broadcast team. In his new role at Speedcast, Woolston will help Broadcasters and

Media companies navigate the complexities of global content distribution and the emerging trend toward IP and cloud-based services using the company's scalable global infrastructure that consists of satellite, fiber and cellular networks."Barrie has a solid track record for driving business growth in the Media sector," said ErwanEmilian, Executive Vice President, Enterprise& Emerging Markets at Speedcast. "Over the last three decades, Barrie has worked with major broadcasters and platforms around the world. His understanding of the complex challenges our customers face, combined with the relationships he's solidified with broadcasters, will help to increase Speedcast's standing as the most extensive provider of global connectivity.”Woolston has 30 years of experience in the Technology, Media, and Telecom sectors, with a particular focus on managing customer relationships and driving new business. Before working at Speedcast, Woolston was the Chief Commercial Officer at AsiaSat and the Commercial Director at Arqiva. Throughout the years, he has gained a strong understanding of DTH, OTT, satellite, and digital media technologies.

"The Media industry is going through a dynamic period of change as disruptive business models and technologies impact broadcasters and content owners around the world. With its global scale in people and infrastructure married to our proven robust service culture, Speedcast is in a unique position to help the Media industry navigate the challenges of the future," said Woolston. "Speedcast has continually demonstrated a forward-thinking approach to sectors impacted by technology challenges by developing strong customer relationships and innovative technical solutions, and we will bring a much-needed new approach to an industry that touches everyone's lives on a daily basis.”

Speedcast recently announced that it expanded the capabilities of Speedcast Media Network to support the growing industry requirement for multi-platform, point-to-point, and point-to-multipoint live and linear digital video delivery anywhere in the world. As content rights owners and pay-TV operators make more content available on every screen globally, and with nearly 90 percent of US and EMEA broadcasters expected to adopt IP and cloud technologies over the next few years according to IABM, Speedcast Media Network enables increased efficiency and agility for supporting "video everywhere" models for any size media organization.

Viasat introduces second-generation hybrid Ku-/Ka-band in-flight connectivity antenna system

its second-generation Ku-/Ka-band shipset, inclusive of an advanced hybrid antenna and complementary radome. The latest dual-band system, aimed at the commercial wide-body aircraft market, will keep passengers and crew connected across commercial Ku- and Ka-band G e o s y n c h r o n o u s a n d N o n -Geosynchronous satellite networks, virtually anywhere they fly around the globe.

The shipset sets into motion an accelerated migration path for commercial airlines to operate on Viasat's global network. It immediately enables worldwide roaming connectivity for new or retrofit aircraft – serving a large and growing portion of their routes on the fastest Ka-band networks, and the balance on global widebeam or spotbeam Ku satellites.

Airlines can steadily migrate a greater proportion of their routes to the faster, more economical Ka-band service enabled by a growing array of partner satellites as well as the global ViaSat-3 constellation planned for launch in 2021 and 2022.

Viasat has years of expertise in delivering dual-band antenna systems to the global market. The Company's first-generation shipset served airframes ranging from commercial narrow-body planes to larger senior leader government aircraft. “Hybrid antenna systems are not new to Viasat—we have nearly two decades of experience deploying and managing these systems,” said Don Buchman, vice president and general manager, Commercial Aviation, Viasat. “Similar to the first generation, Viasat's latest dual-band system promotes smooth transitions among multiple satellite beams across Ku- and Ka-band networks. Our next-generation Ku-/Ka-band terminal is the most capable and flexible solution for commercial wide-body aircraft—giving them a global solution today—with piece of mind that the technology deployed will be fo rward-compat ib le w i th the innovations in spacecraft technology of tomorrow.”

Key benefitsFor airlines: Viasat is providing a forward-compatible hybrid shipset solution that leverages today's Ku- and Ka-band networks, but enables airlines to easily

Viasat has announced the introduction of

transition to the faster, more reliable, more economical Ka-band networks of tomorrow.For passengers and crew: Viasat's hybrid technology allows for continuous connectivity when in-flight.

How it worksIn-flight, customers will have access to all the Ka-band satellites currently participating in Viasat's global network (WildBue-1, Anik-F2, ViaSat-1, ViaSat-2 and KA-SAT, as well as nbn'sSkyMuster I and II and other current and future partner satellites). When out of Ka-band coverage, service will switch to the Ku-band network.

Viasat is continuing to add Ka-band capacity to its global network through partnerships and via its ViaSat-3 global Ka-band constellation, comprised of three ultra-high capacity satellites that are expected to offer complete visible Earth coverage. The first two ViaSat-3 class satellites are under construction to serve the Americas and the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) markets, respectively. These two satellites are expected to be launched by the 2021 timeframe. Viasat has also recently commenced a third ViaSat-3 class satellite for Asia Pacific (APAC), expected to be launched in the 2022 period—enabling full global Ka-band coverage.

Over 36,000 historical RADARSAT-1 satellite images of the Earth now available to the public

The Canadian Space Agency and the Canada Centre for Mapping and Earth Observation are making RADARSAT-1 synthetic aperture radar images of Earth available to researchers, industry and the public at no cost. The 36,500 images are available through the Government of Canada's Earth Observation Data Management System.The RADARSAT-1 dataset is valuable for testing and developing techniques to reveal patterns, trends and associations that researchers may have missed when RADARSAT-1 was in operation. Access to these images will allow Canadians to make comparisons over time, for example, of sea ice cover, forest growth or deforestation, seasonal changes and the effects of cl imate change, particularly in Canada's North.This image release initiative is part of Canada's Open Government efforts to encourage novel Big Data Analytic and Data Mining activities by users.

Canada's new Space Strategy places priority on acquiring and using space-based data to support science excellence, innovation and economic growth.Acco rd ing t o t he Honou rab le NavdeepBains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, "Our Government continually seeks to better understand the impact that humans are having on our environment. RADARSAT-1 has provided us with a comprehensive and valuable group of images of Canada from space. I am pleased that we are now sharing these images openly with Canadians so that they can chart environmental changes in our country over time.”

"Science data from space allows us to better see and understand our planet. The Canadian Space Agency is encouraging researchers, industry and all Canadians to develop creative applications using this data; applications that will improve our lives on Earth and advance our knowledge of the issues impacting our planet. We intend to make even more RADARSAT-1 available imagery in the future. Canada is a leader in Earth observation from space, and RADARSAT data has been critical to better understanding our country and our world.”

While also commenting, ÉricLaliberté, Director General, Space Utilization, Canadian Space Agency, said, "We are proud to be involved in such a historical moment in Canada's Open Data movement. This Natural Resources Canada , CSA, p r i va te sec to r collaboration to release over 36,000 RADARSAT-1 images through our new state-of-the-art Earth Observation Data Management System will provide coast-to-coast-to-coast baseline data to all Canadians. Among other applications, RADARSAT-1 images will support monitoring and measuring cumulative effects of changes to Canada's lands and waters, strengthen environmental assessments, and improve disaster mitigation.”

ThinKom conducts live on-air link performance tests over Inmarsat-5 satelliteThinKom Solutions, Inc. has completed successful live tests to validate throughput performance of its ThinAir Ka2517 phased-array antenna over Inmarsat's I-5 Global Xpress military Ka-band satellite. The results exceeded expectations, achieving error-free data throughput rates of 185 Mbps on the downlink and 35 Mbps on

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r a wide angular range in order to test both low (15 degree) and moderate (45 degree) elevation angle performance. “The demonstrated 185 Mbps forward and 35 Mbps return data rates via our Ka2517 antenna are unique among commercial aviation satellite terminals,” said Bill Milroy, Chief Technology Officer of ThinKom Solutions. “Normally, these sorts of high satellite throughput rates would be possible only with a large parabolic dish antenna. This is a remarkable achievement, particularly for such a compact low-profile phased-array product expressly designed for the unique challenges associated with aeronautical and ground-mobile environments and applications.” Milroy further noted that the data rates would have been roughly 25 percent higher at in-flight above-the-weather altitudes. The Ka2517 phased-array antenna has previously completed successful in-flight link testing on a number of different platforms and satellite constellations. The first production units have been qualified and are now in active service aboard U.S. government aircraft

Vislink Technologies announces major global repositioning of its brands

Vislink Technologies, whose IMT and Vislink brands are recognized as the global leaders in the development and distribution of advanced communications solutions, announces its official global repositioning to the worldwide market. After changing the name of its corporate entity from xG Technology in late February, Vislink Technologies is now pleased to inform its clients, suppliers and other stakeholders that it has united its individual product brands under one single Vislink Technologies brand entity. As the key element of the rebranding, solutions currently marketed under the IMT and Vislink nomenclature, as well as other legacy products such as Advent, Gigawave, MRC, RFCentral and Nucomm, will begin to adopt Vislink Technologies brand names. Product availability, service and support will not be impacted as a result of the rebranding. With offices in five countries, 137 distribution partners around the world and more than 50 years of innovation bred into its DNA, Vislink Technologies is a powerhouse of technology, products and solutions ideally positioned to meet global product ion needs. Through th is rebranding initiative, the company will respond to current and emerging technology requirements from its markets, with solutions that embody a clear and consistent brand personality.

Satcom players invest in new space business and High Throughput Satellites to catalyze future growth

The satellite communication (Satcom) ecosys tem i s w i tness ing rap id transformation, primarily due to increased competition both internally and from terrestrial service providers. As a result, the industry is poised to offer unique value propositions to existing and new customer groups through investment in new space business, high-throughput satellites, downst ream in f ras t ruc tu re , and partnerships with downstream service providers.

The market is expected to generate cumulative revenues of $119.05 billion from 2018 to 2025 at a 2.4% CAGR."Many small-satellite constellation operators have advanced in their development processes and plan to offer low-cost, affordable, global and seamless connectivity solutions. The aim is to bridge the digital divide across geographies. This is leading to a change in focus from geostationary satellite earth orbit to medium or low satellite earth orbit," said Vivek Suresh Prasad, Senior Research Analyst, Space, at Frost & Sullivan. "Additionally, the exponential growth and advancement in fiber-based networks and technologies, including compression technology, are causing incumbent satellite operators to diversify their current solutions, revisit their existing business models, reduce their costs, and address evolving customer needs.”

Frost & Sullivan's recent analysis, Global Satellite Communication (Satcom) Market Assessment, Forecast to 2025, analyzes how the Satcom market performed in the past five years, including regional and service market shares of top satellite operators. It covers market drivers, restraints and trends, as well as value propositions by new market entrants. The study presents a forecast for growth from 2019 to 2025, including regional and service market segmentation.

"Current value chain dynamics will evolve to accommodate both existing and new customer group needs," noted Prasad. "This will open up multiple ongoing growth opportunities, including high-volume, on-demand video, reliable enterprise connectivity, in-flight entertainment, high-definition video transmissions, maritime connectivity, systems interoperability, remote connectivity, network upgrades to 2G/3G/4G/5G, and affordable single-point downstream solutions."

U.S. Army selects Hughes for network upgrades of Next-Generation, friendly forces monitoring system

Hughes Network Systems, LLC has been awarded a two-year Cooperative R e s e a r c h a n d D e v e l o p m e n t Agreement by the U.S. Army for the third phase of the Blue Force Tracking program. Under the agreement, Hughes and other industry participants will conduct research studies to deliver a series of recommendations for modern iz ing the BFT sys tem architecture to improve interoperability and resiliency, as part of an Open System Architecture (OSA) consortium working to achieve more flexible network tracking of friendly force locations. Hughes will present recommendations to bolster operational resiliency with e m p h a s i s o n m a i n t a i n i n g commun ica t ions in con tes ted environments. “Hughes is excited to be part of this leading-edge team that will define the open architecture of next generation systems,” said Rick Lober, vice president and general manager of Defense and Intelligence Systems at Hughes. “We look forward to providing a unique perspective to the effort as one of the world's largest commercial suppliers of satellite communications equipment and services. As a case in point, our advanced waveform t e c h n o l o g y h a s l e d t o k e y breakthroughs in overcoming system jamming, which paired with prototypes of a Flexible Modem Interface (FMI) for military terminals makes Hughes a natural fit to support the Army's objectives.” The OSA results under the CRADA will include modular network architecture recommendations for the U.S. Army to integrate var ious mi l i tary and commercial networks and services using new standardized interfaces. This approach is expected to foster innova t ion th rough inc reased competition, eliminating single-vendor dependence on closed networks and yielding truly best-in-class technology solutions for the military. “This contract represents great progress in the military's efforts to achieve greater interoperability across communications platforms,” continued Mr. Lober. “We look forward to working closely with the Army in their effort to upgrade the critical system technology that protects our warfighters and allies.”

C-COM Satellite Systems and Kepler Communications announce successful integration of LEO support on C-COM FLY-981

C-COM Satellite Systems and Kepler Communications, a pioneering nano-satellite telecommunications company, have announced the successful integration of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite tracking capabilities to C-COM's highly successful FLY-981. This comes at the substantial completion of a development project that C-COM and Kepler have been collaborating on in recent months, with C-COM's engineering team developing the necessary capabilities and Kepler providing access to their LEO satellites. During the store & forward tests, C-COM's FLY-981 antenna was demonstrated to successfully acquire and track Kepler's satellites on a repeatable basis and achieved data transfer speeds of 100Mbps down and 30Mbps up.

For C-COM, this represents the capability of adding Low Earth Orbit satellite communications as an additional service to existing and future customers of C-COM auto-acquire satellite dishes. For Kepler, the addition of the FLY-981 as an approved satellite dish solution expands the potential users beyond maritime applications, to land-based applications such as natural resource exploration and extraction, remote research bases, and other activities where portability and reliability are key considerations.

The FLY-981 is the Ku-band version in the C-COM auto-acquire line-up. A 98 cm satellite antenna system which is a highly portable, the FLY-981 can be assembled in 10 minutes by one person, without any tools, and is available with airline-checkable cases, making it the terminal of choice in various industries such as Oil & Gas Exploration, Military Communications, Disaster Management, and the Public Sector.

Kepler's Global Data Service, currently enabled by Kepler's first two satellites in orbi t , is a high-capacity data communication service. Covering every part of the globe, pole-to-pole, GDS al lows the movement of Gigabytes of data to and from the user's location at economical rates. The store-

and-forward nature of the solution makes it suitable for latent-tolerable data such as media vaults, information generated by operations such as drilling data for the oil and gas industry, and backhaul of data repositories. “For C-COM, this test with Kepler Communications LEO nano-satellites opens up new developing markets for our extensive worldwide reseller base,” said Leslie Klein, President and CEO of C-COM Satellite Systems Inc. “The store and forward data delivery services offered by Kepler's LEO constellations using our iNetVu mobile antenna system's Low Earth Orbit option will provide customers with a unique, cost-effective large data transfer capability,” Klein continued. “For Kepler, the addition of the C-COM FLY-981 as an approved satellite antenna solution expands the potential user base beyond maritime applications, to land-based mobile/transportable applications such as natural resource exploration and extraction, remote research bases, disaster management, defense, and many other vertical markets requir ing high-capacity connectivity where portability and reliability are key considerations,” said M i n a M i t r y , C E O o f K e p l e r Communications. C-COM and Kepler will be continuing their collaboration on future projects that will increase the accessibility of LEO satellite communications, and in turn, increases the data services that users of C-COM's satellite systems are able to utilize.

Broadcasters face increased demand for higher resolution video standards that require an order of magnitude more satellite capacity. Meanwhile, spectrum is being challenged by 5G roll-outs. With that in mind, NovelSat has teamed up with igolgi to introduce NovelSat FUSION, an all-in-one solution offering new levels of satellite transmission efficiency so that broadcasters can drive down operational costs.NovelSat, a world leader in satellite transmission technology and igolgi, a leading provider of video processing, delivery and analytics software and solutions, have developed the FUSION

NovelSat introduces NovelSat FUSION for satellite broadcasters to address UHD adoption and spectrum challenges

solution, which integrates high-efficiency multi-stream video encoding and satellite modulation in a single transmit unit and satellite demodulation and multi-channel video transcoding in a single receive unit. The all-in-one NovelSat FUSION solution offers broadcasters significant savings in satellite bandwidth or enables transmission of up to three times more video content without increasing link budgets.

The FUSION encoder/modulator receives multiple simultaneous video streams in any video format or delivery standard and encodes them into a high-efficiency HEVC (H.265) video stream. The compressed video is modulated and securely uplinked using virtually unbreakable (optional) 256-bit AES encryption. On the receive side, the FUSION transcoding IRD decrypts and demodulates the satellite signals and transcodes to any video format including MPEG 2, MPEG 4 (H.264 AVC) and HEVC to support OTT, ABR and linear TV streams. Optional packaging to HLS or DASH is also available in the receive unit. In addition, the unit can be a decoder only or can pass through content for direct packaging.

NovelSat FUSION supports all satellite transmission standards, including DVB-S2/S2X, in addition to NovelSat NS4, the world's most bandwidth-efficient satellite transmission waveform. With the most current, advanced HEVC encoding from igolgi, the efficiency benefits of NovelSat NS4, and tight integration, FUSION outperforms all other broadcast solutions.“Changes in the satellite broadcasting market necessitate a new look at how broadcasters use satellite bandwidth,” said Gary Drutin, NovelSat CEO. “NovelSat FUSION is an efficient and economical solution to help broadcasters resolve their spectrum challenges.” “By leveraging satellite bandwidth efficiency technologies from NovelSat along with powerful video compression solutions from igolgi, NovelSat FUSION brings to market a formidable offer for spectrum efficiency and video flexibility,“ said Dr. Kumar Ramaswamy, President, igolgi Inc.

Demand for internet connectivity doubles on Marlink serviced expedition cruise liners

Marlink has reported that the expedition cruise market is in full-on growth mode in terms of demand for connectivity in the

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most remote corners of the planet. As a leading global satellite service provider and communications partner of choice for luxury and adventure cruise ships and fleets, Marlink says that it is contracting twice the satellite capacity specifically for the expedition sector as it was just 12 months ago and is now regularly providing megabit connectivity on a truly global scale. Marlink customers in the sector include Hapag-Lloyd Cruises as well as French luxury cruise specialist PONANT.

The 100% increase in capacity required to keep guests, crew and company connected as far afield as the Arctic and Antarctic is due to the surge in popularity of expedition cruising. Innovative cruise lines are developing more specialised ships to meet the needs of guests seeking unique cruising experiences which are further afield and off the beaten track. More luxury and exclusivity as well as ensuring that all conveniences are available regardless of location, including connectivity for business and pleasure, are all high on the agenda.

Marlink customers in the sector include Hapag-Lloyd Cruises fleet which is operating in remote locations using Marlink VSAT. New 'expedition class' sh ips , HANSEATIC na tu re and HANSEATIC inspiration, due to be delivered this year and HANSEATIC due in 2021, will have the same high-level connectivity for guests and crew. Marlink also renewed its contract to deliver multi-band services to French luxury cruise specialist PONANT late in 2017, a deal that included provision for four new PONANT Explorers yachts – Le Champlain and Le Laperouse, which joined the fleet in 2018, and Le Bougainville and Le Dumont-d'Urville, which will enter service in 2019.

Network quality is key to meeting the demanding requirements of expedition cruising and while Marlink deploys state-of-the-art on-board systems and makes capacity available globally, it also focuses development efforts on ensuring that customers have improved support tools to optimise their communication services. In parallel, Marlink is also committed to ensuring its clients can minimise the risk of cyber-attack through inherent security at the network level and the fully integrated ship and shore-based Cyber Guard portfolio, offering harmonised solutions for detection, protection and recovery.

With the cruise market in focus, the company recently introduced several new capabilities that can be accessed via an online portal, including an onboard internet Wi-Fi landing site or captive portal with capabilities to connect APIs to the c l i en t s own cus tom ised c ru i se management sys tems fo r more automated processes, to reduce manual

labour. The new support tool also features a dashboard which provides information on best line of sight between the vessel and available satellites, which is especially relevant close to the poles with low elevation where obstructions such as icebergs or cliffs could affect link availability, and therefore the quality of service that g u e s t s e x p e r i e n c e .“Regardless of the remoteness of where they may be, guests on expedition class ships still expect to be able to connect to the internet. They want to show their videos and photos on social media, and stay in touch with the office, and family and friends, so operators are looking for the highest network quality to deliver on these expectations,” said Tore Morten Olsen, President Maritime, Marlink. “The latest adventure cruise ships are also hotbeds of technology, most of which only starts to reach its real potential when it is integrated with the Internet of Things (IoT) and Operational Technology (OT), creating more demand for satellite capacity and a strong rationale for ensuring that your satcom partner is committed to network quality with an eye on the future. In that context, our future-proof network concept has already led to testing for forthcoming new LEO networks, which will be important for continuing to service demands from the cruise segment.”

Rocket Lab successfully launches R3D2 satellite for DARPA

A Rocket Lab Electron launch vehicle successfully lifted off from Launch Complex 1 on New Zealand's Mahia Peninsula. The mission launched a prototype reflect array antenna to orbit for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). “Congratulations to our dedicated team for delivering another important and innovative asset to space – on time and on target. The unique requirements of this mission made Electron the perfect launch vehicle to lift R3D2 as a dedicated payload to a highly precise orbit,” said Rocket Lab founder and CEO Peter Beck. “Thank you to our mission partners. We look forward to continuing to provide frequent, reliable and rapidly-acquired launch services for innovative small satellites.”Rocket Lab was selected for the launch because of the company's proven mission heritage and its ability support rapid acquisition of small satellite

launch capabilities. Due to Rocket Lab's streamlined acquisition practices, DARPA's R3D2 mission was launched just over 18 months from conception – a significant reduction in traditional government launch acquisi t ion timeframes.With proven flight heritage from four orbital missions, Rocket Lab is the only fully commercial small satellite launch service provider in operation. The experienced Rocket Lab team has delivered 25 satellites to orbit, including innovative new space technologies that provide vital capabilities such as weather monitoring, Earth observation and Internet of Things connectivity. The R3D2 mission was Rocket Lab's first of 2019, as the company heads into a busy year of launches booked for lift-off every four weeks. To support the small satellite industry's highest launch cadence, Rocket Lab is currently producing one Electron launch vehicle every 30 days across its Huntington Beach, California, and Auckland, New Zealand, production facilities.

Hispasat, Wibo provide satellite services in Mexico

H i s p a s a t a n d M e x i c a n telecommunications company Wibo will offer broadband satellite and Internet Protocol (IP) phone services for the next three years to extend connectivity in Mexico. The companies are working to connect the areas of the country where communications are of poor quality or non-existent, as happens in many rural areas and in the regions far removed from the large cities.

The satellite chosen for this project is HISPASAT's Amazonas 5. This High-Throughput Satellite (HTS) aims to provide connectivity and Internet Protocol (IP) voice services in the Ka-band at a low cost for users. These services will be managed from HISPASAT's teleport in Ixtlahuaca de Rayón (State of Mexico). In order to provide internet access to the greatest number of Mexicans possible, Wibo has defined different service and price packages which are tailored to the different needs and budgets of all users. The solution offers users a wide catalogue of products without the need to sign up for a specific defined period.

Both companies have also recently renewed the satellite services contract in the Ku-band from the Amazonas 3 satellite for a duration of three years. These services will continue to be operated from Wibo's teleport located

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in Aguascalientes (Mexico). The two options aim to help companies that work in the most isolated parts of the country to develop and grow, while also helping agricultural, mining and petroleum companies, among many others.

Arianespace orbited the final four latest satellites in the first phase of SES's O3b constellation

SES shareholders approve all resolutions at Annual General Meeting

Arianespace has orbited the final four latest satellites in the first phase of SES's O3b constellation. The launch took place from the Guiana Space Center (CSG), Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana in South America.This was the fifth O3b mission by Arianespace, which has now orbited all 20 satellites in the first phase of this medium Ear th orb i t (MEO) conste l la t ion. Arianespace has launched a total of 61 satellites overall for SES since 1988, both geostationary and non-geostationary. With this fourth successful launch of the year, and the second Soyuz mission for constellations in 2019, Arianespace continues to prove that its family of launchers is perfectly suited to all types of missions into all orbits. Following the launch, StéphaneIsraël, Chief Executive Officer of Arianespace, said: “With this fifth successful launch for the O3b constellation, Arianespace is proud of deploying the entire first phase of this innovative system. Our exceptional partnership with SES has enabled us to orbit 61 satellites, both geostationary and non-geostationary, for this leading international operator. I want to express my gratitude to SES for its trust. We are ready to take on new challenges together.”

During its Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Betzdorf, Luxembourg, SES' shareholders approved all proposed resolutions, notably the company's 2018 accounts and the proposed dividend of EUR 0.80 per A-share, which will be paid to shareholders. In addition, shareholders re-elected the following five directors for a three-year term: MrRomain Bausch, Mr Victor Casier, MrsTsegaGebreyes, Mr François Tesch and Ms Françoise Thoma. Following the shareholders' meeting, the Board of Directors re-elected MrRomain Bausch as Chairperson for a period of one year and both MrsTsegaGebreyes and Mrs

Anne-Cather ine R ies as Vice-Chairperson also for a period of one year.

SES was founded in Luxembourg in 1985 as Europe's first satellite operator. Today, we are one of the leading satellite operators with offices in 17 countries and teleports around the world. Today, SES reach 558 million homes worldwide and facilitate the broadcasting of 6,200 TV and radio channels including 1,200 in High Definition

Harris Corporation and L3 Technologies stockholders approve merger

Harris Corporation and L3 Technologies, Inc announced that, at their respective special meetings of stockholders held today, Harris and L3 stockholders voted to approve all stockholder proposals necessary to complete the merger of equals transaction to create L3 Harris Technologies, Inc., a global defense technology leader that will be focused on developing differentiated and mission critical solutions for customers around the world. The merger is expected to close in mid-calendar year 2019, subject to satisfaction of customary closing condit ions, including receipt of regulatory approvals.“I am pleased that our shareholders voted in favor of this strategic combination, which will create a premier global defense technology company,” said William M. Brown, Harris chairman, president and chief executive officer. “Today's vote clearly supports our view that this merger will unlock additional growth opportunities and generate value for our customers, employees and shareholders.”“This vote represents a key milestone in our merger process,” added Christopher E. Kubasik, L3's chairman, chief executive officer and president. “Overall, integration planning is proceeding well as we prepare to capture operational synergies and establish a shared culture of innovation. The increased scale of L3 Harris wi l l al low us to del iver comprehensive mission-critical solutions to our customers, while creating value for all of our stakeholders.”

Viasat, Expedition Communications empower Businesses across Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands with High-Speed Satellite Internet

Viasat Inc. announced a partnership to deliver high-speed satellite internet to businesses and government agencies across Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Through this relationship, Expedition Communications will sell, install, maintain and provide customer support for Viasat's high-quality satellite internet service across the islands. Viasat has satellite internet coverage over Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands with its ViaSat-2 satellite, the world's most advanced high-capacity communications satellite.

Viasat's satellite broadband speeds are faster than many of the islands' current telecommunications services. By using Viasat's business internet service, many of the islands' businesses and government organizations can reliably connect critical business applications such as cloud-based collaboration, Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP), email, point-of-sale transactions, high-speed file transfers, streaming video, Internet of Things (IoT) applications and more. The Viasat business internet service can also be used as a diverse business continuity back-up service, providing a resilient secondary internet connection for businesses who can't afford to have downtime related to terrestrial infrastructure outages. In fact, Viasat and Expedition Communications paired up after Hurricane Maria to provide critical disaster recovery connectivity to clinics throughout Puerto Rico, as seen in this video. "All businesses, regardless of where they decide to set-up operations, should have access to a quality internet network," said Dean Eldridge, CEO of Expedition Communications. "By collaborating with Viasat, we are enab l ing bus inesses to adop t technologies that were previously unavailable to them. Viasat's advanced satellite system is helping organizations be competitive and connected–across Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands–enabling them to expand the types of business applications they can use."Cody Catalena, vice president and general manager, Global Business Solutions at Viasat continued, "In w o r k i n g w i t h E x p e d i t i o n Communications, we are able to support the expanding economies of both Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. We can provide businesses on both islands an opportunity to take advantage of the benefits of satellite internet—with speeds, reliability and affordability that keep a business running—continuously, even when other communication services are down.”

Orbit Logic delivers

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scheduling software to NOAA to optimize Search & Rescue coverage

Orbit Logic has delivered scheduling software to the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to optimize NOAA ground terminal contacts with Mid-Earth Orbit (MEO) satellites equipped to receive search and rescue distress alerts. The solution helps improve the timeliness and location accuracy of distress alerts received by the satellites, leading to faster and more effective responses by rescue personnel.

Orbit Logic's delivered solution will include STK Scheduler for contact schedule optimization, STK Pro for system modeling, STK Coverage for D i l u t i o n o f P r e c i s i o n ( D o P ) computations, as well as a custom software plug- in to coordinate computations and generate updated contact schedules on demand.

There are a growing number of MEO satellites equipped to receive search and rescue distress signals. Distress signals received by the satellites get relayed to NOAA ground terminals, which send the signals on to appropriate rescue organizations. The number of MEO satellites on orbit now exceeds the number of NOAA ground terminals, so decisions need to be made about which satellites the terminals should point at to receive relayed distress calls.

Orbit Logic developed a COTS-based solution that uses STK Pro and STK Coverage to compute DoP for all possible satellite contact combinations, then passes this information to STK Scheduler.

STK Scheduler uses this information to generate ground terminal pointing schedules optimized to provide the best possible geolocation accuracy of distress signals. STK Scheduler models the system as a set of prioritized communications tasks with weighted preferences for resource (satellite) combinations over time. Scheduler generates a new, optimized contact schedule within seconds, allowing for quick updates as conditions change.

“We are honored to have been selected by NOAA for this important project that automates and optimizes contact scheduling in support of NOAA's search and rescue mission.” said Alex Herz, president of Orbit Logic. “It is always a good feeling to know that your software is being deployed to help save lives.”

Forsway expands operations to North America

Forsway is expanding its operations to include a sales office in Dallas, Texas. To accelerate new business and growth opportunities in North America, Forsway has engaged Faith Wright to spearhead its new operations. Based on extensive experience within the satellite arena working with C-Level executives, cabinet ministers, heads of state, and senior players in the Gulf Region and Africa, Faith has worked with global vertical markets including NGOs, US defence contractors, oil, mining, cellular, worldwide system integrators and leading channel partners. Tobias Forsell, CEO, Forsway,” Faith brings broad industry expertise to the Forsway team. With over 15 years of experience in founding, developing and managing international companies in a variety of sectors including Satellite Communications, Telecom, Cellular, and IT sectors. In addition, her strong engineering background will be a significant contributor to supporting and delivering on sales initiatives. ” We are highly pleased to welcome Faith to the Forsway team to help drive growth in North America and participate in further evolving our sales and development strategies.”

Intelsat reports Intelsat 29e service outage

Intelsat, S.A. announced service outage on the Intelsat 29e satellite which continues to affect maritime, aeronautical and wireless operator customers in the Latin America, Caribbean and North Atlantic regions.

Late on 7 April, the Intelsat 29e propulsion system experienced damage that caused a leak of the propellant on board the satellite resulting in a service disruption to customers on the satellite. While working to restore the services, on 9 April, the satellite experienced a second anomaly that caused a loss of communications to the satellite. Communication with the satellite has been intermittent. Intelsat continues to work with the satellite's manufacturer, Boeing, on recovering communication.

The Intelsat customer-facing team is focused on migrating customer services from Intelsat 29e to other Intelsat satellites serving the region, as well as third party services. Intelsat will not make a determination of financial impact until he conclusion of the recovery mission.

Colombian broadcaster selects Teledyne Paradise to supply SSPAs for broadcast operations

Teledyne Paradise Datacom (Paradise), part of the Teledyne Defense Electronics Group, has announced that a major Colombian broadcaster Caracol TV has recently selected several Paradise solid state power amplifier (SSPA) product lines to support critical broadcast operations. Each of the indoor and outdoor SSPA packages were selected for their extremely high reliability, high linear output power, and small size and weight which makes them easy to transport. Each SSPA is also equipped with a modular redundancy system, enabling broadcasters to respond to fluctuating news coverage requirements by easily removing and locating redundant units to other geographic locations where breaking news is emerging. “We have come to rely on Paradise earth station SSPAs in recent years first and foremost because of their rock solid reliability, which ensures they perform to customers' specifications each and every time,” said Jose Luis Rodriguez, CEO of Rodcast and Telecom, a broadcast systems integrator and supplier for Caracol and a Paradise distributor. “Their extremely compact size and lightweight 20 kg packages are also extremely valued by our customers.” “But there are additional unique Paradise features that separate these SSPAs from others. The fans are serviceable while in operation, and the outdoor packages are completely insulated from the electronics which minimizes sand and dust interfering with circuitry. They are extremely robust with an extended temperature range, and the compact outdoor Paradise SSPA weighs so little it is airline checkable, making for quick and easy transport for customers.” Paradise SSPAs included in the Caracol deployment include the indoor redundant 3U System; individual 3RU indoor rack mount SSPAs; the compact outdoor redundant SSPA system; and the individual compact outdoor SSPA. Rodcast is one of Teledyne Paradise Datacom's global distributors serving the broadcasting sector, and is responsible for providing turnkey solutions to the international broadcast market. In addition to the indoor and outdoor SSPAs and SSPA systems provided to Caracol, Paradise also develops the popular PowerMAX™ Scalable SSPA System and the Outdoor PowerMAX™ Scalable SSPA System which provides ultra-high power for broadcasters

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without the need for a shelter.

MX1 and Minerva Networks power next-generation OTT TV services

MX1 has announced a partnership with Minerva Networks, a leading online video platform (OVP) provider, to offer turnkey, subscription-based and ad-funded over-the-top (OTT) video services. The integration of Minerva's market leading platform with MX1's proven content management services and global delivery infrastructure will e n a b l e m e d i a c o m p a n i e s , broadcasters, mobile service providers, ISPs, and pay TV operators worldwide to launch robust, flexible, and scalable OTT video services quickly and cost effectively.

"In partnership with MX1, we are redefining the way large-scale OTT video services can be efficiently created, launched, and operated," said Mauro Bonomi, CEO of Minerva Networks. "The combination of our management platform with MX1's proven media processing services and delivery infrastructure provides a comprehensive solution for the delivery of engaging entertainment experiences on a variety of connected devices." Minerva's OVP supports a broad set of video services including live TV, video-on-demand, personal video recording, catch-up TV, pause of live TV, and restart TV. Minerva's platform also provides a rich set of analytics data that enable operators to optimize their video services in order to increase user engagement and retention. MX1 will manage all aspects of the OTT content workflow and service delivery, including operations and 24/7 monitoring. "Consumers are looking for compelling services that allow them to enjoy a variety of live, time-shifted, and on-demand video content anywhere and on any screen.

In partnership with Minerva, we have assembled a best-of-breed turnkey solution for operators to quickly and cost-effectively deploy next-generation multiscreen services," said Daniel Kiessling, senior product manager at MX1. "Our global OTT TV Cloud Service will enable broadcasters, media companies, and operators worldwide to better monetize their content.”

Intelsat and Aldea partners to deliver global satellite and fiber video distribution network

Intelsat S.A. and Aldea Solutions Inc. announced that the two companies have entered into a peering relationship to expand satell ite and fiber video contribution and distribution networks for media customers g lobal ly. This agreement will also leverage both companies' extensive presence in Latin America.As a means to provide easier access for content progrmmers to Intelsat's premier media distribution platforms,

Intelsat and Aldea are extending their combined infrastructure and footprint. Through the partnership, Intelsat will further expand the reach of its IntelsatOne te r res t r i a l ne twork v ia A ldea 's international fiber network, adding connectivity to media locations in 35 cities, as well as connections to premium content programmers. In turn, Aldea will have access to Intelsat 's video n e i g h b o r h o o d s w h i c h h o u s e approximately 5,400 channels and reach 508 million households worldwide.

Bill O'Hara, Intelsat's General Manager, Media, stated, “At Intelsat, our broadcasters' and programmers' needs come first. By providing direct access to Intelsat's premier satellite distribution platforms through Aldea, content programmers will have an easier path to widen their viewership and monetize their content.”

Lionel Bentolila, Aldea CEO, added, “The premier quality of service we provide to media customers around the world has been the principal driver of our success. This new relationship with Intelsat reinforces our commitment to excellence and extends our reach, offering additional sa te l l i te -based op t ions fo r our customers.”

Mission Microwave supports INSTER on train satellite system

Mission Microwave Technologies, LLC, a manufacturer of highly efficient Solid State Power Amplifiers (SSPAs) and Block Upconverters (BUCs) has been selected by INSTER, part of the CPS Group for use in their Train Connectivity solution for the railways. “The engineering team at INSTER conducted a rigorous search for the ideal RF amplifier solution for their customer.

The challenging environmental conditions and need for a lightweight and compact solution made the Mission Microwave Stinger BUC an obvious choice,” said Steve Richeson, Vice President of Sales & Market ing for Mission Microwave. “INSTER's engineers have a thorough understanding of the requirements for mobile and transportable terminals and ur team enjoyed working with them to overcome the challenges for this demanding commercial application of our products.”

“Our customers demand that we provide them with optimal solutions in terms of reliability, price and performance. The Mission Microwave products have inspired the industry with their dramatic increases in performance and reliability in an efficient and elegantly designed package,” commented INSTER executive Jocirene Chagas

The system provided by INSTER will provide connectivity to new generation Trains operating beyond the reach of high capacity terrestrial services along the railroad lines. INSTER's requirements were driven chiefly by performance, low profile, and the compact design of the 55 Watt Ku Band Stinger BUC that occupies under 1650 cubic centimeters of volume (100 cubic inches) and weighs only 2 kg (4.5 lbs). Mission Microwave continues to be at the forefront of the satellite terminal industry in shipping high power Ku and Ka Band BUCs for mobile applications in ground, maritime and other applications for both government and commercial industry sectors that require high efficiency, reliability and performance.

Space robotics market to surpass $3.5bn by 2025: Global Market Insights

The space robotics market is predicted to hike from USD 2 billion in 2018 to around USD 3.5 billion by 2025, according to a 2019 Global Market Insights, Inc. report. The market is experiencing rapid technical development owing to the integration of AI technologies into systems developed for space exploration. Several companies are developing AI-based robots that provide enhanced mobility and manipulation benefits. These machines can perform highly-complex tasks for a longer duration and offer minimal human dependence. The integration of AI offers 3D perception and proximity GNC to robots, which will support resistance against environmental conditions and offer high flexibility, accuracy and control. In November 2018, an AI-based robot, CIMON, started its first conversation with a spacefaring crew.

The robot is designed by DLR Germany in collaboration with IAM and Airbus. Moreover, the increasing number of experiments and

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projects related to space exploration by government agencies globally is attributing to the demand of the space robotics market.. Robotic arms in the space robotics market are witnessing a high demand for the deployment in advanced space systems. Robotic arms aid astronauts in lifting and handling heavy and large objects in space. Moreover, rovers are spacecraft that use exploration vehicles and perform the transportation of crew members from one spaceflight to another.

The companies working in the market are developing partially or fully autonomous rovers for exploration and transportation applications.

In the space robotics market, near space exploration and transportation segments are gaining popularity due to several missions working on asteroid survey missions, which are near to the Earth's surface. The need for continuous maintenance and servicing of the existing satellites is creating a huge demand for this segment, adding to the growth of the market. The near space transportation segment utilizes advanced transportation systems that support transporting of heavy cargos to the existing objects for repairing and other purposes. Various companies are gaining huge investments to ca r ry ou t the i r near space transportation projects. Commercial applications in the space robotics market are growing due to technical advancements and various exploration missions adopted by governments along with companies. In March 2019, SpaceX announced the launch of Crew Dragon's demonstration mission, which was intended for demonstrating the company's capabilities including safety of astronauts to fly to and from the International Space Station.

The spacecraft is America's first one to autonomously dock along with the orbiting laboratory. The segment includes companies that include satellite operators and private owners, launching service providers, and exploration companies, which aid in the proper functioning of spaceflights, adding up to the market growth. Browse key industry insights spread across 150 pages with 161 market data tables and 18 figures and charts from the report, “Space Robotics Market Size By Solution (Product [Rovers / Landers, Probes, Arms / Manipulator Systems], Software, Services),

By Application (Deep Space [Space Exploration, Space Transportation], Near Space [Space Exploration, Space Tr a n s p o r t a t i o n ] ) , B y E n d - U s e (Commercial, Government), Industry Analysis Report, Regional Outlook (U.S.,

Canada, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Russia, China, India, Japan, South Korea, Brazil, Israel, South Africa), Growth Potential, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2019 - 2025” in detail along with the table of contents:

North America is a leading participant in the market, owing to the presence of national organizations, including NASA and CSA, that are actively working toward the industry's development. The U.S. and Canada are investing huge amounts in R&D and technology enhancement to achieve space exploration initiatives. The Asia Pacific space robotics market is also growing at a rapid pace in countries including India, Japan and China due to several ongoing and upcoming space projects.The key companies operating in the space robotics market include Oceaneering International, Maxar Technologies, N o r t h r o p G r u m m a n , A s t r o b o t i c Technologies, Motiv Space Systems, Altius Space Machines, etc. These players are investing heavily in R&D activities to develop new solutions related to exploration and transportation in both deep and near space. Strategies, such as partnerships and contracts, with other c o m p a n i e s a n d g o v e r n m e n t organizations, such as NASA, ISRO, etc., are strengthening their position in the market.

Costa Rica activates first free Wi-Fi sites in digital divide areas

Costa Rica's telecommunicat ions regulator Sutel has announced the activation of the first 23 sites in its 'Connected Public Spaces' initiative to bring Wi-Fi connectivity to digital divide areas throughout the country. The sites offer free Wi-Fi at speeds of up to 6Mbps and will be funded by resources from the National Telecommunications Fund (Fonatel). A total of 515 sites including parks, libraries, train stations, civic centres and public universities in 82 cantons will have hotspots installed, said Sutel. Local operators Telecable, Coopeguanacaste and a consortium made up of ICE, Racsa and PC Central have already been awarded contracts worth a total of around EUR 150 million.

Amazon to launch over 3,000 satellites to provide global internet service

https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/space-robotics-market

Amazon plans to launch a constellation of low Earth orbit satellites to provide low-la tency, h igh-speed broadband connectivity. "This is a long-term project that envisions serving tens of millions of people who lack basic access to b r o a d b a n d i n t e r n e t , " A m a z o n spokesperson Kinley Pearsall informed the media recently.

It came after the Washington D.C.-based company Kuiper System filed to International Telecommunications Union to put 3,236 satellites in low Earth orbit, including 784 satellites at an altitude of 590 kilometers, 1,296 ones at 610 kilometers and 1,156 satellites at 630 kilometers. Amazon confirmed that Project Kuiper is part of its project, "a new initiative to launch a constellation of Low Earth Orbit satellites. " Those satellites would provide data coverage ranging in latitude from 56 degrees north to 56 degrees south. More than 90 percent of the world's population live in that area.

Amazon is the latest private company to join the race to provide internet access through a network of low-orbit satellites after SpaceX, OneWeb and Telesat. But Pearsall gave no specifics on its timeline.SpaceX launched its first two prototype b roadband da ta sa te l l i t es . I t s constellation is projected to grow to over 12,000 ones in low Earth orbit.

Crown Media Family Networks to deliver new lineup to US homes via SES

As part of the nine-year deal, Crown Media will migrate its popular Hallmark Channel portfolio from the AMC-11 satellite to SES-1, one of three satellites that are home to the leading cable programming distribution platform over North America.

Crown Media will leverage a full transponder of C-band capacity aboard SES-1 to reach its total audience of more than 85-million US cable homes with its flagship Hallmark Channel and the highly successful Hallmark Drama and Hallmark Movies and Mysteries channels. “Crown Media has played a vital role in the advancement of content p r o d u c t i o n , b u i l d i n g a b r a n d synonymous with quality programming,”

Steve Bunke, Vice President of Sales and Market Development for SES Video in North America. “SES is honored to earn Crown Media's trust, as we enter a new and strategic distribution agreement aimed at enabling a new wave of collaborative innovation over the next

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decade.”

Harris Corporation awarded $84 million contract to enhance GPS capabilities

Harris Corporation has received an $84 million contract to produce Navigation Technology Satellite-3 (NTS-3), an exper imenta l sate l l i te that w i l l demonstrate new position, navigation and timing capabilities to improve the resiliency of the Global Positioning System (GPS).

The Space Enterprise Consortium selected Harris as the prime system integrator to design, develop, integrate and test NTS-3, including ground mission applications. The contract was signed in December 2018. Scheduled to launch in 2022, the position, navigation and timing (PNT) satellite will simultaneously broadcast military and earth coverage signals at increased power levels – enabling it to operate in contested environments.

The time keeping system will use diverse timing sources to improve mission stabil i ty, anomaly detection and correction. The system's design will enable Harris to rapidly develop and deploy new waveforms to reprogram and update the satellite throughout its lifecycle.“The Harris solution extends beyond the traditional bounds of space-based reprogrammable payloads to enable new techniques to combat evolving threats,” said Chris Forseth, vice president and general manager, Harr is Space Superiority business.Harris will leverage its 40-plus years of Harris GPS and space antenna expertise to support all phases of the project. Harris' expertise in creating and sending GPS signals extends back to the mid-1970s – with the company providing navigation technology for every U.S. GPS satellite ever launched. Originally developed for warfighters, millions of people around the world and billions of dollars of commerce now depend on the accurate, reliable GPS signal created and sent by Harris navigation technology.

Virgin Atlantic to enhance passenger experience with Inmarsat's GX Aviation inflight broadbandInmarsat announced that its GX Aviation inflight broadband solution will be available to passengers onboard Virgin

Atlantic's brand new Airbus A350-1000 aircraft. Virgin Atlantic is scheduled to receive 12 Airbus A350-1000s over the next three years, with GX Aviation pre-installed upon delivery.

The service will be available once the first of these aircraft takes to the skies from late summer 2019, allowing passengers to seamlessly browse the internet, check social media, instant message and more, with speeds on par with mobile broadband on the ground.

GX Aviation is the world's first and only global, high-speed inflight connectivity services delivered through a wholly-owned and operated network of high-throughput satellites. It was revealed as part of Virgin Atlantic's new onboard offering on the A350-1000 earlier this week, with other key features of the aircraft including an entirely new Upper Class cabin with brand new suite and social space.

Philip Balaam, President of Inmarsat Aviation, said: “Virgin Atlantic is firmly established as one of the aviation industry's greatest innovators and were the first airline in Europe to offer wi-fi on all flights. Their brand new Airbus A350s will enhance the passenger experience even further and we are delighted that GX Aviation has been selected as the inflight broadband solution for the aircraft. This is another great win for our next-generation solutions.”

Gail Yates, Head of Inflight Services, Virgin Atlantic, said: “We are excited to unveil details of the unparalleled onboard experience that awaits customers on our new Airbus A350-1000s. Offering modern, world-class inflight connectivity is a fundamental part of this experience. We are confident that Inmarsat's GX Aviation will truly raise the bar and offer second-to-none broadband for our customers.”

More than 1,600 aircraft are currently expected under signed contracts for Inmarsat's next-generation inflight broadband solutions for airlines, with a new business pipeline of approximately 3,000 aircraft worldwide. To meet growing demand, Inmarsat has a fully-funded development roadmap, including three further Ka-band payloads. A fifth GX satellite will be launched later this year and two sixth-generation satellites are scheduled to launch in 2020 and 2021. In addition, planning is underway for the next generation of GX satellites.

Carnival Corporation expands experience innovation partnership with SES

Carnival Corporation plc announced an expanded relationship with SES, adding the world-leading satellite-enabled video and data service provider as a Global Experience and Innovation – Select Innovation Partner. As a Select Innovation Partner, SES will continue to work with Carnival Corporation's Global Experience and Innovation team as an integrated design, development and delivery partner for game-changing guest experience innovations including M e d a l l i o n C l a s s ™ v a c a t i o n s , OceanView® and MedallionNet™ now exclusively available on Princess Cruises.To date, Carnival Corporation's Global Experience and Innovation team with SES Networks, the data business unit of SES, has created MedallionNet, the best Wi-Fi at sea, to deliver connectivity to guests that is fast, unlimited, reliable and affordable. The partnership has also produced the first real-time cruise ship/cloud-scale/shoreside intelligence synchronization model that powers the Ocean Guest Experience PlatformTM – an Experience Internet of ThingsTM network on board select ships from Carnival Corporation's Princess Cruises brand.

SES, as a world-leading video content distributor delivering over 8,100 channels to over 355 million homes, is bringing its broadcast ing capabi l i t ies as an innovation partner GO.TM – a direct-to-digital travel series created by Carnival Corporation. In 2019, 11 new episodes filmed in Cuba, Ireland, Scotland and the Bahamas will be released, celebrating some of the most spectacular travel destinations accessible by cruise ship. The short-form episodes are being created in stunning 4K and will be del ivered along with the entire OceanView original content library via SES's geostationary earth orbit (GEO) fleet and medium earth orbit (MEO) satellite constellation.

"SES is an integral innovation partner who not only provides world-leading connectivity technology through its combined GEO and O3b MEO constellation, but most importantly is passionate about creating amazing experiences through the fusion of creativity, story, connectivity, media and technology with O3b mPOWER on a global scale," said John Padgett, chief experience and innovation officer for Carnival Corporation. "Our first joint creation, MedallionNet, has already

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signif icant ly elevated the cruise experience for our guests and crew and is pushing the entire industry to improve connectivity for their guests and crew, no matter where they might be in the world.”

Canadian-Swedish co-operation to strengthen Earth Observation capabilities at the Inuvik Satellite Station Facility

Swedish Space Corporation (SSC) in co-operation with Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) is expanding its data reception capabilities at the Inuvik Satellite Station Facility (ISSF) in Canada's Northwest Territories. This expansion marks the next step in a long-standing and productive collaboration between SSC and NRCan.

As global Earth Observation activities continue to evolve, the growth of SSC capacity at the Inuvik Satellite Station Facility (ISSF) will enable many more customers to receive Earth observation data in support of their mission objectives. SSC began operations at the ISSF in 2012. This spring, SSC will begin installing its new infrastructure that will expand its data reception and TT&C capabilities at the ISSF. It will also extend the “KINUVIK” solution of complete polar coverage provided by the coupling of SSC's ground station in Kiruna, northern Sweden and the ISSF in Inuvik.

Over the years, SSC has built strong relationships in Canada and the Northwest Territories, which have helped to grow the ISSF, and allowed SSC to gain valuable experience working within the Canadian regulatory environment.

“SSC's newest developments at the ISSF will further strengthen our capability to offer services which require high security and resiliency, as well as increase our adaptability to support new types of space services”, says Leif Österbo, Head of Satellite Management Services at SSC.

“The addition of new SSC infrastructure at the ISSF is another step towards building the ISSF as a global Earth Observation destination. We look forward to continued collaboration on complementary activities that benefit Inuvik, and Sweden and Canada”, says Prashant Shukle, Director General, Canada Centre for Mapping and Earth Observations at Natural Resources Canada.

By observing the Earth from space, satellites provide essential information on ocean, ice, land environments, and the atmosphere. Earth Observation satellites

help us monitor and protect our environment, manage our resources, and ensure safety and security. Satellite imagery and expertise are a lso used to suppor t g loba l humanitarian efforts and sustainable development.

Helical Communications Technology launches first antenna for Hiber Satellite

Helical Communictions Technology (HCT), a Rockledge-based research, des ign and manu fac tu re r o f deployable space-based and ground station antennas, launched their custom-built Quadrifilar Helical A n t e n n a a s p a r t o f H i b e r ' s constellation satellites in December, 2018, according to Salvatore Bologna, President of HCT. A second launch with the same technology launched from Vandenberg Air Force Station the same month.

This milestone elevates HCT to the status of “Flight Heritage Status” which indicates a company's first successful satellite launch deployed into space. Very few private companies have reached this milestone. “This flight heritage milestone opens our doors for more companies wishing to launch satellites into Low Earth Orbit (LEO) for future launches,” stated Bologna. “The opportunity to offer daily internet access via modems located in remote regions of the world transmitted to earth-bound existing satellite stations is remarkable. HCT is proud to have been part of this much needed solution.” Founded in 2013 by Salvatore Bologna and Gregory O'Neill, HCT began researching and designing a unique omni-directional antenna for “cube-sat” space satellites that capture a much larger footprint of geography and topography on the earth.

Cube sats are small, less costly satellites that can be sent into space in large quantity and growth in this sector is expected to skyrocket due to the lower costs to produce. Within four years HCT had developed a design that can be scaled depending on the customer's requirements to have a wide range of circularly polarized antenna patterns.

H ibe r, based in Amste rdam, contracted with HCT to send their

nano-satellites or cubesats on this mission with the objective to offer internet connectivity to millions worldwide who lack accessibility to the internet. The company estimates launching dozens of nano satellites within the next year to keep up with demand. HCT also plans to multi-use this antenna to communicate with shipping containers from port of origin to final destination.

HCT designed the custom-built “quadrifilar” helical antennas at their Rockledge-based operations and shipped them to the Netherlands where Hiber's headquarters are based. Hiber, in turn, added other cubesats and shipped to their launch destinations. In remote regions worldwide, subscribers purchase a low-cost modem which allows them to connect to Hiber's constellations placed in low earth orbit. The goal is to have a constellation of satellites providing internet from space instead of relying on underwater or above ground cable.

Hughes to develop protected tactical enterprise service for Boeing

Hughes Network Systems, LLC has been awarded a contract from Boeing to develop mission management, system control, networking and ground hub capabilities in suppor t o f an ant i - jam sate l l i te communications capability for the Air Force's Protected Tactical Enterprise Service (PTES) program.

The PTES program will provide tactical warfighters with a joint ground platform d e s i g n e d t o d e l i v e r p r o t e c t e d communications services through the Wideband Global Satcom (WGS) satellite constellation, commercial satellites and in the future, the DoD's Protected Tactical Satellites running the Protected Tactical Waveform (PTW). Hughes will design PTES sub-systems to support these tactical capabilities in the first phase of Protected Anti-Jam Tactical Satcom (PATS).

"Hughes is developing a state-of-the-art, containerized software design for PTES data, control and management functions with scalable architecture to enable the use of advanced artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques," said Dr. Rajeev Gopal, vice president and Hughes program manager for PTES.

The PTES technology developments will use an Agile Project Management approach required under the PTES contract. The contract work was initiated in late 2018 and is expected to run through

the uplink. Testing was conducted during the week of March 4, 2019, in Hawthorne, California, using a vehicle-mounted Ka2517 phased-array satellite antenna with a 16W Plin SSPA. The Ka2517 was scanned.

Forsway team. With over 15 years of experience in founding, developing and managing international companies in a variety of sectors including Satellite Communications, Telecom, Cellular, and IT sectors. In addition, her strong engineering background will be a significant contributor to supporting and delivering on sales initiatives.” "We are highly pleased to welcome Faith to the Forsway team to help drive growth in North America and participate in further evolving our sales and development strategies.”

SCD announces the successful launch to Space of its SWIR sensor‘Semi Conductor Devices (SDC) - a global leader in the deve lopment and manufacture of a wide range of cooled and uncooled infrared detectors and high-power laser diodes has announced the successful launch to space and operation of its Cardinal InGaAs SWIR (Short Wave Infrared) detector. The detector was integrated into a hyperspectral imager installed in the Hello World Nano satellite. The hyperspectral imager was developed by Finland based VTT Ltd. (www.vtt.fi) and the Nano satellite by Reaktor Space Lab Ltd.The imager provides infrared images that aid in providing solutions for monitoring and managing the effects of climate change and assist in predictions of natural disasters like forest fires. The images from space received by the VTT imager are of excellent quality which is also the result of the high performance of the SCD InGaAs SWIR detector. This event adds to the growing list of space customers who are using SCD detectors and products of various types and technologies.

According to Dan Slasky, SCD's CEO : “SCD is proud to be part of VTT's nano satellite program with our Cardinal SWIR detector. The SCD SWIR product line has shown significant growth and the prospects forward show even more demand for the high performance, yet cost effective sensors. To date, the SCD Cardinal family of SWIR detectors have been implemented into Land, Naval and Airborne applications and now we can also add Space applications to our portfolio.”

Kepler Communications, Magellan Aerospace sign letter of intention to fly innovative smart radiator device on satellite mission

Kepler Communications and Magellan Aerospace Corporation have signed a Letter of Intention to fly an innovative Smart Radiator Device (SRD) on Kepler's third satellite, scheduled for launch later this year. The unique SRD, designed to significantly improve temperature management on-board future satellites, is being developed by MPB Communications in partnership with Magellan Aerospace.

This innovative SRD technology is being developed as part of a technology development program with the goal to improve its technology readiness level by eventually operating in the space environment. Kepler intends to be the first to use this technology as part of their satellite's thermal control hardware suite before the end of 2019. The SRD radiator design has a unique property in which its effectiveness in emitting or retaining heat (its “ e m i s s i v i t y ” ) c h a n g e s w i t h temperature. Heat d iss ipat ion increases at elevated temperatures and reduces at lower temperatures. The tunable radiator keeps the spacecraft within tighter temperature bounds and reduces the need for survival heaters when the spacecraft is cold. The SRD's properties are highly desirable for space applications, especially for communication satellites where the payloads tend to rapidly heat up at the time of transmitting signals (up to 80°C) and quickly get colder (down to -20°C) when dormant.

With the SRD, Kepler will be able to keep the spacecraft in the “Goldilocks Zone”: not too hot, not too cold. “We are looking forward to seeing this new technology in action and how it will benefit next-gen satellite platforms moving forward,” says Jared Bottoms, Kepler's Lead Systems Engineer. “Magellan is looking forward to continuing the development of the SRD with MPB, and is excited about the upcoming flight opportunity with Kepler” says Corey Mack, Space Business Unit Leader at Magellan.

Dynamic Spectrum Alliance announces Cisco Systems, Swarm Technologies and UTStarcom as new members

The Dynamic Spectrum Alliance (DSA) has announced that Cisco Systems, Swarm Technologies and UTStarcom have joined the Alliance, as more and more companies are introducing wireless technologies that enable the full range of narrowband and wideband applications by tapping into shared spectrum bands.

Governments are recognizing that growing demand for wireless bandwidth and a widening digital divide can only be addressed if they embrace and implement dynamic spectrum access policies and regulations across a wide range of spectrum bands.

“With rising demand for the full range of next generation narrowband and wideband wireless applications and technologies, the DSA is thrilled to welcome Cisco Systems, Swarm Technologies and UTStarcom to the Alliance,” said Paul Garnett, Chairman of the Dynamic Spectrum Alliance Board. “There is no denying the role that dynamic spectrum access plays in enabling next generation wireless technologies, on low-, mid- and high-band spectrum, so it is great to welcome organizations that are all dedicated to enabling service providers to address growing demand for wireless connectivity and to more cost-effectively reach the unconnected and underserved.” He added: “The DSA is looking forward to working with Cisco Systems, Swarm Technologies and UTStarcom as we continue to work with governments and regulators around the world to enable more efficient spectrum utilisation that will bring better connectivity and promote social and economic inclusion.” Cisco Systems has joined the DSA just over a year into its 5G RuralFirst project, a testbed that brings technology experts and local businesses to demonstrate how c o n n e c t i v i t y w i l l b e n e f i t r u r a l communities. As a worldwide technology leader, Cisco Systems has been bringing 5G benefits to rural communities and is addressing the challenges of rural connectivity. The mission of Swarm Technologies is to connect people and devices any time, from anywhere in the world, at the lowest cost. Since it was founded in 2016,

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Swarm Technologies has been developing the world's smallest communications satellites, enabling network services and making hardware accessible at the lowest possible cost. UTStarcom is a global telecom infrastructure provider, specialising in delivering packet optical transport and broadband access solutions to give network carriers the ability to serve the growing demand for bandwidth. “Cisco Systems, Swarm Technologies, and UTStarcom are three important organisations that are doing incredible things to bring new socially and economically beneficial wireless connectivity use cases to life,” concluded Garnett. “I'm looking forward to discussing this further with all of the DSA members, as well as regulators and industry players, at the upcoming DSA Global Summit.” The DSA will welcome government and industry leaders to its annual Global Summit, the premier event on spectrum policy and spectrum management, taking place June 26-27, 2019, in Washington D.C. The agenda of the upcoming DSA Global Summit is the strongest yet, reflecting the importance of dynamic spectrum access in enabling next generation wireless technologies. With confirmed speakers including the International Telecommunications Union, Microsoft, Google and Cisco Systems, industry leaders will discuss and debate spectrum sharing methods and models, including shared spectrum to enable next generation Wi-Fi, 3.5-3.7 GHz Citizens Broadband Radio Service roll-outs and the use of hybrid fixed wireless networks to close the digital divide. The Global Summit will be held at The Westin, Washington D.C, June 25-27, 2019. To register, please click here. For further information about the D S A , p l e a s e v i s i t

. Companies interested in joining the DSA should visit the membership page, which provides a membership level breakdown and further detail on how to become a member.

HughesNet provides new service plans in New York

HughesNet unveiled new service plans for residents of New York State as part of the New NY Broadband Program, which provides state grant funding to support high-speed internet access to unserved and underserved areas of New York State.

HughesNet already more than 1.3 million subscribers throughout the

www.dynamicspectrumalliance.org/

Americas, and New Yorkers in designated areas of the state will have access to special rates and data plans on HughesNet Gen5 service.

G o v e r n o r A n d r e w M . C u o m o established the $500 million New NY Broadband Program in 2015 with a goal of “broadband for all.” The Program provides state grant funding to support projects that deliver high-speed Internet access and is currently in its third and final stage, addressing the balance of New Yorkers without access. Before the initiative, 30 percent of New Yorkers were without broadband.“In today's economy, access to broadband is essential for communities and businesses to thrive,” said Jeffrey Nordhaus, Empire State Development executive vice president of innovation and broadband. “We thank Hughes for its support of the New NY Broadband Program, and for working in close partnership with the state to provide connectivity to many of the most rural and remote areas that previously lacked access to broadband.”

NAPA signs up to become first certified application provider for Inmarsat's IoT service

Inmarsat and NAPA, the leading provider of maritime software, services and data analysis, have signed an agreement to enable ship owners and ship managers to access and analyse real-time onboard data more efficiently through a dedicated application hosted on Inmarsat's new Fleet Data IoT service.

Developed by Inmarsat and Danelec Marine, and made commercially available earlier this year, Fleet Data collects data from onboard sensors, pre-processes that data, and uploads it to a central cloud-based database equipped with a dashboard and an Application Process Interface (API).NAPA will then use this data to offer services for vessel performance monitoring, analytics and optimisation.

Research published last year by Inmarsat on digital transformation in shipping* indicated that, on average, ship operators and managers plan to spend $2.5 million on IoT-based solutions within three years and expect average IoT-driven cost savings of 14% over the next five years. However, the research strongly suggested that a greater maritime appetite for IoT-based solutions would emerge if more data could be delivered and analysed in real-

time.

“We are delighted that NAPA will be our first certified application provider for Fleet Data. This partnership and the NAPA application will help overcome key difficulties faced by those frustrated with the challenge of aggregating vessel data on-board and getting it efficiently onshore to improve fuel optimisation,” says Stefano Poli, VP, Business Development, Inmarsat Maritime.

“It will allow ship operators and managers to access, control and analyse their own data, through the NAPA application on Fleet Data and via a secure platform that is fully scalable, fleet-wide and now commercially available on both Fleet Xpress and FleetBroadband,” says Mr Poli. “Our NAPA Fleet Intelligence platform is built to utilise ship performance data from all kinds of data sources, such as noon reports, or AIS, and to scale according to the data available, allowing as many vessels as possible to use data to improve their operations,” says Mr Pekka Pakkanen, Director, Development, NAPA Shipping Solutions.

“However, the most accurate performance evaluations and predictions need both good quality and high frequency data, which is just what Fleet Data provides. For us, the key is to provide value from the data collected, based on expertise in hydrodynamics, opt imisat ion and analytics. This scalable way of obtaining data opens new possibilities to enhance the benefits of this value added service for the whole shipping industry,” says Mr Pakkanen

In addition to Fleet Data, Inmarsat is also providing dedicated bandwidth services for application providers across both its L-Band and Ka-Band networks and recently signed an agreement with SRH Marine SAIT to provide ECDIS updates via FleetBroadband. *The Industrial IOT on Land and at Sea – published July 2018; research commissioned to Vanson Bourne, specialist technology market research company. For more information visit

P a r a d i g m m a k i n g SATCOM simple

This year at Satellite 2019, Paradigm is showcasing their new MANTA® terminal, a game-changing comms-on-the-go and comms-on-the-pause self-pointing single case terminal. The MANTA is the complete solution for 'anywhere' IP data connectivity via Wi-Fi and Ethernet by just adding power – satcom made simple.

The versatile MANTA operates straight 'out-of-the-box' for simple Deploy & Go

http://research.inmarsat.com/

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satcoms or can be quickly fitted to any vehicle (land or sea) for comms-on-the-move. The MANTA uses software beam forming for satellite acquisition and tracking; the on-board PIM® provides an optimised satellite service requiring no specialist skills to offer easy, high speed data service anywhere. The MANTA is Paradigm's latest PIM-enabled terminal providing rapid, high-speed connectivity from a single case. Rugged, versatile and discreet, the MANTA is the complete solution providing integrated RF, modem and terminal control, as well as a handheld or dash-mounted 'Remote' for live beam heading, signal strength and system status and control info. Paradigm's other PIM-enabled terminals include the 'internet in a backpack' SWARM® and the flyaway CONNECT100T and HORNET range; both terminals integrate the PIM to point the antenna. At Satellite 2019, videos of all Paradigm's PIM-enabled terminals will be available to view on our booth (#938) with both the SWARM and MANTA available for attendees to be hands-on with. Ongoing b o o t h a c t i v i t i e s w i l l i n c l u d e demonstrations of the straightforward operation of the PIM, with attendees able to experience how easily the onboard visual and optional audio cues guide the user during the pointing process for our flyaway terminals.

Hughes, Xplornet deliver broadband to rural Canada

Canadian rural broadband provider Xplornet Communications entered into a contract with Hughes Network Systems, agreeing to a l i fetime capacity agreement on the next-generation JUPITER3 Ultra High Density Satellite (UHDS), designated EchoStar XXIV. In a contract valued at more than $250 million over 15 years, the agreement is for approximately 50 Gbps of Ka-band capacity reaching more than 90 percent of the population of Canada, along with system gateway and consumer premise equipment and operational and support services. Currently under construction, EchoStar XXIV is expected to launch in 2021 and bring more than 500 Gbps of capacity across the Americas.

Powered by the latest JUPITER System technology, EchoStar XXIV aims to enable the continued growth of high-speed services for applications including consumer, enterprise, aeronautical, cellular backhaul and community Wi-Fi, and bridging the digital divide. The satellite is expected to deliver broadband

services for 15 years and will join the largest fleet of High Throughput Satellites (HTS) across the Americas, a l l u t i l i z ing JUPITER System technology, including EchoStar XVII, EchoStar XIX, Hughes 65 West and Hughes 63 West.

“This agreement marks another mi lestone in our longstanding relationship with Hughes,” said Allison Lenehan, CEO of Xplornet. “JUPITER 3 is expected to provide the highest speed satellite Internet service in Canada, with download speeds of 100 Mbps, answering our customers' need for fast and reliable broadband to connect them to what matters.”

Iridium swarded Gateway support and maintenance contract by the U.S. Department of Defense

Iridium Communications Inc. has been awarded a new contract by the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) to cont inue suppor t ing the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Enhanced Mobile Satellite Service (EMSS) gateway. The contract, valued at $54 million over 4.5 years, for Gateway Maintenance and Support Service (GMSS), will ensure that this dedicated ground site continues to operate at peak efficiency and in optimal condition for critical U.S. DoD missions.

Dedicated for use by the U.S. DoD, their Iridium gateway serves as the uplink and downlink point for the DoD's EMSS communications capabilities through the Iridium® network. This includes the enhanced capabilities made possible by Iridium's upgraded satellite constellation, which was formally completed and declared fully operational in February of this year.

"This new contract provides the mechanism for Iridium to help ensure the DoD gateway is able to fully support the new capabilities and services needed to meet the emerging requirements of the warfighter," said Scott Scheimreif, executive vice president of government programs, Iridium.

"It is yet another example of the strategic, long-term relationship between Iridium and the U.S. Department of Defense. We remain committed to the U.S. DoD and the warfighter as we explore new ways for

addressing critical requirements leveraging our unique satellite network.”

The previous iteration of the GMSS contract was awarded in October of 2013 for a five-year term with a six-mon th ex tens ion op t ion . The subscribers operating under the Iridium EMSS program run by DISA have more than doubled over the five-year period between 2013 and 2018 to 113,000, reflecting a 17.25% compounded annual growth rate. This surge in growth has occurred under the current flat-rate contract program that provides unlimited voice and data services to the U.S. warfighter and other government participants.

AST & Science Announces Successful Launch of Its First Satellite

AST & Science announced that its first satellite, designated BlueWalker 1, has been successfully launched, stabilized in orbit and is ready for operations.The BlueWalker 1 nano-satellite was launched into orbit on a PSLC-C45 launch vehicle from the Datish Dhawan Space Center in India April 1. The satellite is functioning satisfactorily and is ready to move into full operation.

BlueWalker 1 is flying in a stable low-Earth orbit (LEO) at an altitude of about 500 miles. It will serve as a testbed for AST & Science patented technologies in space over the next several years.

“This is an important step forward in completing the development and testing of our patented technology, which underpins our plan to deploy large numbers of ultra-powerful LEO satellites in space for a variety of defense and commercial applications,” said Abel Avellan, chairman and CEO of AST & Science.

“The new technology, which is being tested and validated on the BlueWalker satellites, will be used for the satellite modules that we will produce at our new manufacturing plant in Midland, Texas,” Avellan added. “This factory has the capacity to build up to 100,000 satellite modules per year.”

Earlier this year, AST & Science opened a new U.S. office in the Washington, D.C. area and a design center for RF a n d e l e c t r o n i c s i n I s r a e l , comp lemen t ing the co rpo ra te headquarters and 85,000 sq. ft. high-volume manufacturing plant in the

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Midland Space Port Business Park. AST & Science also acquired a controlling interest in NanoAvionics in 2018. The company has assembled a global team of 94 engineers and scientists, 18 of whom are PhDs, according to Avellan.

HISPAMAR starts operating from its new teleport and satellite control centre in Serviente

HISPAMAR, the Brazilian subsidiary of t h e S p a n i s h s a t e l l i t e - b a s e d communications operator HISPASAT, has unveiled its new teleport and satellite control centre in Serviente (Rio de Janeiro). In recent years, the company has developed an ambitious expansion plan, increasing its satellite fleet and activity in Latin America. This growth has made it necessary for the company to acquire a larger teleport to host all the antennas and control equipment needed for the company's operations, as they no longer fit in the old control centre, which has been located in Guaratiba (Rio de Janeiro) since 2003.

Built on more than 30,000 square metres of surface that will allow the teleport to be expanded in the future, the Serviente control centre features seven high-performance antennas, 3.8-metres in diameter. Five of these antennas are dedicated to monitoring the carriers and two are for telemetry and remote operation of the Amazonas satellite fleet. In addition to these new antennas, another two, each 8.1 metres in diameter, have been transferred from Guaratiba, one for the Ku band and another for the C band, along with another 4.8-metre antenna for the Ku BSS band. To prepare the hubs that allow Internet services to be provided via satellite, 22 VSAT (small size) antennas have been transferred from the old teleport while a new 7.3-metre antenna has been installed. In total, the installations feature 33 antennas, together with two broadband platforms for managed services and cutting-edge technological equipment to control the satellite fleet. A team of 62 professionals, mostly engineers and technicians, will operate the complex which boasts full availability, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. With an investment close to 40 million Reals (more than 9 million Euros), HISPAMAR's new centre has been designed with an environmentally sustainable focus. A new rainwater h a r v e s t i n g s y s t e m h a s b e e n

implemented that collects and reuses the water for cleaning and irrigation, while the complex also plans to install solar panels to generate photovoltaic energy. According to Alexandre Mello, HISPAMAR's technical director, "HISPAMAR's service operations have been completely transferred to Serviente. The migration process has lasted approximately two months and has involved practically all of HISPAMAR's technical team, in addition to other professionals form specialised companies. The operation has been carried out safely and efficiently, while still allowing the company to provide its services". Mello stated that "the new centre is connected to the Arganda del Rey teleport in Spain and to the Guaratiba centre, which will remain operational as a backup centre. That way we offer redundancy and greater security for our clients.” From Serviente, HISPAMAR will monitor and operate the satellites located in the Brazilian 74º West and 61º West orbital position (where the Amazonas fleet is located). This will make it possible to offer a wide range of telecommunications services, such as broadcasting multimedia content for TV and remote education, hosting corporate networks, providing backhaul for mobile phones and e n s u r i n g h i g h - p e r f o r m a n c e connectivity available through the Amazonas 5 satellite, which offers capacity in the Ka HTS band for broadband services in Brazil and the rest of Latin America. For Sérgio Chaves,

HISPAMAR Director of Business for South America, "this new control centre answers the growing demand for connectivity services in Latin America, where satellites are an ideal solution given the lack of the required terrestr ia l in f rastructure. The economic and social development of a country depends in large part on its access to the Internet. However, we have many areas in this region close to large urban centres which still have deficient Internet services as well as totally disconnected rural regions, without any access. We will only manage to change this reality and achieve the necessary digital transformation using satellites, as they can be deployed quickly and require less investment than fibre optic systems". In order to set up the control centre in Serviente HISPAMAR relied on several well known companies: S e r t e n g e , C r e a t i v e , P R T I , GlobalSystem, apc/schneiderAPCr

and Stemac, were the companies in charge of the construction work; while Indra, General Dynamics, EngSat and Master Service, were in charge of supplying and installing the antennas.

100.000+ terminals licensed with GateHouse Protocol Stack

In March 2019, GateHouse Telecom licensed its 100.000 Inmarsat BGAN terminal and estimates that GateHouse IP covers 50 percent of all BGAN terminals on the market. The terminals are applied globally in all segments of the mobile satellite services; land, maritime, offshore, aeronautic, enterprise, space, government and military. GateHouse Telecom is a major contributor of protocol expertise in the Inmarsat community and plays a significant role in bringing terminals to the market as well as supporting the requirements for testing of terminals prior to launch. “Our journey began in 1999 with a contract to develop a protocol stack for Inmarsat GAN, Global Area Network. The successful cooperation led to GateHouse Telecom being chosen as a horizontal supplier of the protocol stack for BGAN, Broadband Global Area Network, which was launched with the I-4 satellites in 2005,” said Thomas S. Jensen, Director of GateHouse Telecom. With the company's extensive experience from development of waveforms for the most used mobile satellite system, GateHouse Telecom has proven an ability to successfully serve customers and end-users with mission critical communication needs in remote and hostile environments. The achievement of more than 100.000 terminals based on the GateHouse Protocol Stack validates the quality of not only GateHouse Telecom's development efforts but also the longevity of the BGAN system. Inmarsat BGAN is a very mature and reliable system that has been able to hold its own against the pressure from other competing systems, in the beginning with maritime safety solutions and subsequently with a variety of emerging service offerings. Over the years, GateHouse Telecom has worked closely with Inmarsat to support protocol development to encompass development of new and advanced features.As a result of many years of experience working in the satellite domain, and with waveform software utilized in all the segments of satellite communications, GateHouse Telecom has accumulated extensive knowledge of communications software.

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