Satellite News articles from April 2003

Satellite News archives from April 2003

XM Delivers Big For Wall Street.
April 7, 2003... XM Satellite Radio [Nasdaq: XMSR] has turned meeting expectations into a habit that is welcomed by Wall Street. The Washington-based satellite radio services company did it again last week when it posted 483,000 subscribers at the end of...

Loral Seeks To Stem Financial Slide.
April 7, 2003... New York-based Loral Space & Communications [NYSE: LOR] appears to have taken more than its share of financial lumps during the 2002 fourth quarter, based on results the company released last week. The diversified satellite company's...

ITSO's Broadband Initiative For Have-Nots.
April 7, 2003... The International Telecommunications Satellite Organization (ITSO) has launched an initiative to bring broadband via satellite to less developed regions of the globe. ITSO was formed during the privatization of Intelsat to carry on the public...

Spotlight: Mobile Maritime Market Spurs Teamwork.(Brief Article)
April 7, 2003... Maritime Telecommunications Network (MTN), a Miramar, Fla.-based provider of satellite-based communications to cruise ships and offshore oil rigs, has signed a marketing and distribution agreement with Xantic, a Dutch satellite communication...

Satellite-Based IP Data Services Find Niche.(Industry Overview)
April 7, 2003... By Christopher Baugh and John Stevenson, Northern Sky Research Despite all of the turmoil and spectacular collapses within the telecom business sector over the past 18 months, a steady and substantial year-on-year increase has occurred in...

Satellite Sector Revenues Jump 10 Percent In 2002.
April 7, 2003... The struggling satellite industry still managed revenue growth of 10 percent last year, despite clear indications of reduced demand for new satellite orders, according to a survey recently released by the Bethesda, Md.-based consulting firm...

U.S. Court Denies Injunction.(EchoStar Communications against Azteca)(Brief Article)
April 7, 2003... A U.S. district court has denied EchoStar Communications' [Nasdaq: DISH] request for a preliminary injunction against Spanish language TV programming company TV Azteca. The injunction would have prevented Mexico City-based TV Azteca from...

Telenor Encourages Digital Switch.(Telenor Satellite Services Fleet F77 digital voice and data technology)(Brief Article)
April 7, 2003... Telenor Satellite Services is offering up to $3,000 of airtime to maritime customers who upgrade their satellite communications from the aging Inmarsat A analog service to the Fleet F77 digital voice and data technology. Telenor's Fleet...

TriMet Uses GPS Tracking.(Tri-County Metropolitan Transit Agency)(Brief Article)
April 7, 2003... NetScout Systems [Nasdaq: NTCT], a provider of network performance management products, announced that Tri-County Metropolitan Transit Agency (TriMet), the public transportation system in the Portland, Ore., area, is using its nGenius...

Fastrax, Savox Team On GPS.(Brief Article)
April 7, 2003... Fastrax, a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver developer, and Savox Communications, a telecom accessory product provider, have teamed up to provide a new GPS accessory for TETRA (terrestrial trunked radio) terminals. The GPS accessory...

Intelsat's Antarctica Expedition.(Brief Article)
April 7, 2003... Using Intelsat's satellite capacity and Japan Telecom's antenna facilities, Japanese broadcaster NHK is delivering programming from the Showa base in Antarctica to households in Japan. NHK has set up its high-definition TV broadcasting center...

Lagardere Named EADS Chairman.(Arnaud Lagardere)(Brief Article)
April 7, 2003... Arnaud Lagardere has been named co-chairman of European aerospace giant EADS. He will replace Jean-Luc Lagardere, who died on March 14. French holding company Sogeade (which includes French high-tech firm Lagardere and the French state) holds...

New Appointments At GlobeCast.(David Sprechman, CEO of GlobeCast America; Darby Sanchez, CEO of GlobeCast Asia)(Brief Article)
April 7, 2003... David Sprechman has been appointed CEO of GlobeCast America, the U.S.-based arm of French satellite service provider GlobeCast. Sprechman will be responsible for overall direction and management of GlobeCast's North American and Latin American...

RT Logic Gets USAF Contract.(Brief Article)
April 7, 2003... Integral Systems [Nasdaq: ISYS] subsidiary RT Logic has won a follow-on contract with the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory to supply portable universal ground processing units for use in satellite communications. During the initial phase...

Delta II Deploys GPS Satellite.(Brief Article)
April 7, 2003... A Boeing [NYSE: BA]-built Delta II rocket deployed a Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite March 31 for the U.S. Air Force. GPS IIR-9 was launched aboard a Delta II launch vehicle from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., at 5:09 p.m....

ESA Launch Maxus 5 From Artic.(European Space Agency)(Brief Article)
April 7, 2003... The European Space Agency's Maxus 5 sounding rocket mission was launched April 1 at 6:00 GMT from Esrange, north of the Arctic Circle near Kiruna in northern Sweden. The rocket, an 11.5-ton, solid-fueled Castor 4B, carried a 488 kilogram...

L-3 Delivers Terminals For NATO.(L-3 Communications)(Brief Article)
April 7, 2003... L-3 Communications [NYSE: LLL] announced March 31 that its Communication Systems-West division has delivered the first two super-high frequency airborne satellite communication (satcom) terminals, the first airborne wide band data link (AWDL),...

The Satellite News Financial Ticker.(Illustration)
April 7, 2003... Week of March 28 - April 3, 2003 Percentage Change Symbol April 3 Price One Week One Month APT SATELLITE HLDGS ATS 1.55 1.3 -0.6 ASIASAT TELECOM ...

News Corp's Preemptive Strike.
April 14, 2003... News Corp [NYSE: NWS] has made a preemptive regulatory strike in its effort to acquire General Motors [NYSE: GM] subsidiary Hughes Electronics [NYSE: GMH] and its prized DirecTV unit. In announcing the $6.6 billion deal, News Corp pledged...

Invitation to Satellite Business Forecast.
April 14, 2003... Join us Tuesday, April 29, from 12:00-1:30 p.m. (EST) for an exclusive Webinar: "From Broadcast to Broadband: Seizing The Next Satellite Business Opportunity." Gain access to key speakers: Ramu Potarazu, COO of Intelsat Ltd.; Jim Frownfelter,...

Remote Sensing Aids Iraq's Rebirth.
April 14, 2003... The war in Iraq has been a vivid reminder of the value of images provided by commercial remote sensing companies. These same satellite images will play a vital role in rebuilding the country. Remote sensing companies have yet to see a flood...

French and Indian Launch Alliance Deepens.
April 14, 2003... Arianespace and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) are expanding their relationship after the successful launch of ISRO's INSAT-3A communications satellite aboard the French Ariane 5 rocket last week. Arianespace will be...

Spotlight: Loral Skynet Reaches for the Sky.(Brief Article)
April 14, 2003... Loral Skynet, a subsidiary of Loral Space & Communications [NYSE: LOR], did not take long after its recent consolidation with Loral Cyberstar to launch new satellite network services. SkyReach is the name Loral Skynet will use for a group...

Sirius Struggles To Catch XM.
April 14, 2003... By Jimmy Schaeffler Recent announcements by Washington-based XM Satellite Radio [Nasdaq: XMSR] suggest that its first quarter subscriber growth will be strong enough for it to meet aggressive 2003 projections. The company's rising...

Satellite Navigation Symposium.
April 14, 2003... Don't miss the International Space University's 8th Annual International Symposium: "Satellite Navigation Systems: Policy, Commercial and Technical Interaction" to be held in Strasbourg, France from May 26-28. The symposium will differ from...

Satellite Executives Are Bullish On Broadband.(Industry Overview)
April 14, 2003... LAS VEGAS--Satellite-delivered broadband services will gain a market niche despite fierce competition from regional telephone companies and the nation's cable TV system operators, top satellite industry officials are predicting. ...

Ariane 5 Lifts Two Trailblazing Satellites.
April 14, 2003... The launch last week of two satellites aboard an Ariane 5 rocket was a much-needed boost for French launch company Arianespace and the owners of the precious cargo. Arianespace, and the launch industry in general, breathed a sigh of relief...

France, Japan's Team On Service.(France Telecom Mobile Satellite Communications and KDDI )(Brief Article)
April 14, 2003... France Telecom Mobile Satellite Communications and KDDI have signed a partnership that will allow the French operator to offer global coverage to its Inmarsat customers with value-added services in Asia and the Pacific region. Since...

Satellites Help Container Tracking.(Brief Article)
April 14, 2003... Northrop Grumman [NYSE: NOC] has signed an agreement with Orbcomm, a Dulles, Va.-based satellite communications provider, for Orbcomm to provide data transmission services through its low-orbit satellite network for container tracking and...

General Dynamics' Army Contract.(the secure enroute communications packageimproved system )(Brief Article)
April 14, 2003... The U.S. Army has selected General Dynamics Decision Systems, a unit of Falls Church, Va.-based General Dynamics [NYSE: GD], to integrate a voice and data communications system called the secure enroute communications packageimproved...

Canadian Forces Choose IDC.(Brief Article)
April 14, 2003... International Datacasting [Toronto: IDC] has won a contract to provide satellite datacasting services to Canadian armed forces deployed overseas. The one-year, C$3.6 million (US$2.47 million) contract calls for the distribution via satellite of...

CSI Reaches GPS Supply Accord.(Brief Article)
April 14, 2003... CSI Wireless [Toronto: CSY] has reached an agreement to supply aftermarket agricultural GPS-based guidance systems to AGCO [NYSE: AG], a Duluth, Ga.-based manufacturer and distributor of agricultural equipment. CSI Wireless, a Calgary,...

MTN Provides Wi-Fi On Ships.(Maritime Telecommunications Network )(Brief Article)
April 14, 2003... Maritime Telecommunications Network (MTN), a Miramar, Fla.-based provider of satellite-based communications to the cruise and offshore oil and gas rigs, has signed an agreement with Holland America Line to provide wireless technology to its...

Space Imaging In Brazil.(Brief Article)
April 14, 2003... Space Imaging, a Denver, Colo.-based provider of Earth imagery and related services to commercial and government markets, has signed contracts with four Brazilian companies - Engesat, GisPlan, Infostrata and Threetek - to distribute satellite...

The Satellite News Financial Ticker.
April 14, 2003... Week of April 4 - 10, 2003 Percentage 10-Apr One Symbol Price Week APT SATELLITE HLDGS ATS 1.16 -25.2 ASIASAT TELECOM ...

DirecTV Fuels Hughes Recovery.(1st qtr 2003)
April 21, 2003... Hughes Electronics [NYSE: GMH] reported one of its strongest recent quarters last week with results that outperformed the expectations of Wall Street analysts across a range of financial metrics. Rising revenues and a surge in net income at...

Garmin Reaches New Heights.
April 21, 2003... The U.S. military's Global Positioning System (GPS) offers a ready-made satellite constellation that Olathe, Kan.-based Garmin International has been exploiting commercially. The company is supporting a growing number of consumer navigation and...

AsiaSat 4 Settles In Over Asia-Pacific Region.
April 21, 2003... AsiaSat 4 is settling into its geostationary orbital position at 122 degrees East Longitude after a successful April 11 launch from Cape Canaveral, Fla., aboard an Atlas IIIB rocket operated by International Launch Services (ILS). From that...

Spotlight: In-flight Services Gain Lift.(AIRIA's service)(Brief Article)
April 21, 2003... AIRIA, a venture of London-based Inmarsat Ventures, is forging ahead with plans to provide cost-effective, live television services onboard aircraft. The latest step forward involved the delivery of transmission equipment for use at...

DirecTV Surprises Wall Street.(1st qtr 2003 )
April 21, 2003... By Jimmy Schaeffler Hughes Electronics Corp. [NYSE: GMH] offered surprisingly good news when it held its first quarter conference call with financial analysts last Monday. Wall Street satellite analysts were congratulatory and hopeful...

Sirius Bids To Attract Gay, Lesbian Listeners.
April 21, 2003... New York-based Sirius Satellite Radio [Nasdaq: SIRI] is unveiling what the company calls the first national radio channel aimed at the large niche audience of gay, lesbian, transgender and bisexual listeners. Sirius is launching the new...

ITT Gets $31M GPS Contract.(Brief Article)
April 21, 2003... Boeing Integrated Defense Systems has awarded ITT Industries' [NYSE: ITT] Aerospace/Communication Division (A/CD) a contract with a potential value $31 million to upgrade 12 Global Positioning System (GPS) Block IIF satellites. The GPS...

SeaSpace, Taiwan Ink Deal.(Brief Article)
April 21, 2003... The Allied Defense Group's California-based SeaSpace subsidiary has signed a long-term collaborative agreement with Taiwan's National Space Program Office (NSPO). Under the agreement, SeaSpace and NSPO will collaborate initially on projects...

EMS Signs Up NSSL.(Brief Article)
April 21, 2003... EMS Technologies [Nasdaq: ELMG] has signed up UK-based NSSL as a master distributor for its suite of Inmarsat satellite products and services. NSSL will provide service to customers worldwide in the shipping, energy, government, news and...

Satellite Saves Passenger's Life.(Brief Article)
April 21, 2003... A passenger onboard a recent bmi flight from Chicago to Manchester, England, became the first commercial airline passenger to have an electrocardiogram (ECG) in flight with data from the procedure transmitted via satellite to physicians on the...

DigitalGlobe's Walrus Project.(QuickBird satellite imagery)(Brief Article)
April 21, 2003... DigitalGlobe's QuickBird satellite imagery is being used to support a wildlife observation study in Bristol Bay and the Bering Sea, Alaska. The imagery, purchased by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for the Marine Mammals Management Office,...

Equant Stations To EUMETSAT.(Brief Article)
April 21, 2003... Equant [NYSE: ENT], a provider of data and IP services for multinational businesses, will deploy an IP virtual private network for EUMETSAT to process weather data gathered from international meteorological satellites. Based in Darmstadt,...

I-cubed Supplies Mideast Mosaic.(Brief Article)
April 21, 2003... Geospatial engineering company I-cubed has developed a satellite image mosaic of the Middle East for use by the media covering the Iraq conflict. The mosaic includes Bahrain, Iraq, Israel/the West Bank, Jordan, Kuwait and Syria, and portions of...

The Satellite News Financial Ticker.
April 21, 2003... Week of April 11 - 17, 2003 Percentage 17-Apr One Symbol Price Week APT SATELLITE HLDGS ATS 1.33 9.9 ASIASAT TELECOM ...

Satellite Would Detect Killer Quakes.(QuakeFinder and Stanford University collaboration for QuakeSat I )
April 28, 2003... A start-up company has raised seed money and collaborated with a topnotch university to launch a satellite this summer aimed at detecting signs of earthquake activity in California with the help of ground-based sensors. The 10-pound...

Advanced Services Fuel Rivalry.(Industry Overview)
April 28, 2003... The rollout of advanced video services is boosting the competitive pressures on cable and satellite TV providers. The advanced services feature enticing high-definition television (HDTV) and digital video recorder (DVR) capabilities....

FCC Revamps Satellite Licensing System.
April 28, 2003... The Federal Communications Commission has adopted a "first-come, firstserved" licensing process for geostationary satellite applications. The FCC, however, decided to retain the existing "processing round" system for nongeostationary satellite...

Spotlight: Hybrid Rocket Motor Showcased.(SpaceDev Cosmic Hot Interstellar Plasma Spectrometer )(Brief Article)
April 28, 2003... A low-cost hybrid rocket propulsion system that would be able to launch micro-satellites for commercial and military applications appears to be moving toward reality. Poway, Calif.-based SpaceDev [OTCBB: SPDV], the creator of a propulsion...

HDTV: The Next Cable vs. Satellite Race?(high-definition TV )(Industry Overview)
April 28, 2003... By Jimmy Schaeffler A battle is brewing over which multi-channel video services provider can best deliver high-definition TV (HDTV). The competition involves virtually every U.S.-based satellite and cable TV operator. The outcome will...

Network Service Provider Finds Profitable Niche.(ILC)
April 28, 2003... Atlanta-based ILC is finding that a sluggish satellite industry still offers plenty of opportunity to sell network control software and systems. One reason ILC is doing well in the face of economic weakness is that the technical products...

FSS Consolidation Appears Unlikely In Short-term.(fixed -satellite service)(Industry Overview)
April 28, 2003... In the near term, the fixed-satellite service (FSS) industry is likely to be characterized by incremental growth rather than by "blockbuster" mergers between operators, according to panelists at a recent Washington, D.C., meeting of the Society...

GPS Satellite Shipped To Cape.(Lockheed Martin GPS IIR-10 )(Brief Article)
April 28, 2003... Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] has shipped the GPS IIR-10 satellite to the Cape Canaveral, Fla., launch site from its facilities in Valley Forge, Pa. The satellite, scheduled to launch in late July, has performance upgrades including a modernized...

FAA OKs System.(Rockwell Collins HST-900 )(Brief Article)
April 28, 2003... Rockwell Collins' [NYSE: COL] high-speed satellite communications (satcom) system has received Federal Aviation Administration certification for use on aircraft manufactured by Bombardier Aerospace. The Collins HST-900 system provides...

Delta's Song To Offer Satellite TV.(Brief Article)
April 28, 2003... Delta Air Lines' [NYSE: DAL] new low-fair airline Song plans in October to begin offering satellite TV service to passengers. Song is partnering with Matsushita Avionics Systems and EchoStar Communications [Nasdaq: DISH] to provide personal...

PHC Poland To Offer DirecWay.(contract with Hughes Network Systems Europe)(Brief Article)
April 28, 2003... Hughes Network Systems Europe (HNSE), a unit of Hughes Network Systems, has agreed to provide its DirecWay broadband satellite service to PHC Poland for resale to small and medium-sized businesses in Poland. HNSE said its carrier's carrier...

Medical Images Via Satellite.(Ompact Labs and AOS)(Brief Article)
April 28, 2003... Columbia, Md.-based Impact Labs and London-based AOS are demonstrating a system for compressing, securing, transmitting, and viewing medical images through the use of satellite terminals at the American Telemedicine Association. Based on...

Tyco To Supply Cable For Data.(for Svalbard undersea cable system)(Brief Article)
April 28, 2003... Tyco Telecommunications, a Morristown, N.J.-based business unit of Tyco Electronics, has been selected by a subsidiary of the Norwegian Space Center (NSC) to supply the Svalbard undersea cable system linking the island of Svalbard with mainland...

Connexion By Boeing Selects IONA.(Brief Article)
April 28, 2003... IONA [Nasdaq: IONA], a Waltham, Mass.-based provider of integration software, and Connexion By Boeing, a business unit of Boeing [NYSE: BA] that provides communication services to aircraft, have announced that Boeing has selected IONA's Orbix...

Yukon Selects MetaSwitch.(MetaSwitch VP3500 )(Brief Article)
April 28, 2003... Yukon Telephone, the incumbent provider for the rural Alaskan communities of Whittier, Tanana and Ruby, has selected MetaSwitch's VP3500 next-generation class 5 switch to replace its existing Mitel and Redcom TDM class 5 switches. Yukon's...

The Satellite News Financial Ticker.(Industry Overview)
April 28, 2003... Week of April 17 - 24, 2003 Percentage Change 24-Apr One One Symbol Price Week Month APT SATELLITE HLDGS ATS ...