Satellite Today articles from August 2003

Satellite Today archives from August 2003

Air Force, Boeing Delay Launch of Military Communications Satellite.
August 1, 2003... The U.S. Air Force and Boeing [NYSE: BA] officials are delaying the launch of a Defense Satellite Communications System (DSCS III B6) spacecraft aboard a Delta IV rocket from Cape Canaveral, Fla., to no earlier than Aug. 4. The launch, which...

Telesat Canada Posts Increase In Revenue, Earnings.
August 1, 2003... Telesat Canada, a satellite operating subsidiary of BCE [NYSE: BCE], posted C$82.4 million (US$58.9 million) in second quarter revenue and net earnings of C$21.2 million (US$15.2 million), compared with C$77.8 million (US$55.6 million) in...

Trimble Reports Rising Revenues, Net Income.
August 1, 2003... Trimble [Nasdaq: TRMB], a Sunnyvale, Calif.-based supplier of GPS products, reported second quarter revenues of approximately $138.1 million, versus $123.3 million in the second quarter of 2002. For the third quarter, the company expects...

Inforetech Wireless Retires C$2.4 Million In Debt.
August 1, 2003... Inforetech Wireless Technology [OTC BB: WYRE.OB], a Vancouver, Canadabased supplier of GPS technology for the golf industry, announced that it has retired C$2.4 million (US$1.7 million) in outstanding debt obligations. Two of three creditor...

Hudson Named Senior Vice President of Sales at iSECUREtrac.
August 1, 2003... Fred W. Hudson has been appointed senior vice president of sales at iSECUREtrac [OTC BB: ISRE.OB], an Omaha, Neb.-based developer of GPS tracking and monitoring devices. Hudson will be responsible for all sales functions at the company. Before...

August Launch Manifest.
August 1, 2003... Launch Company Date and Time Facility Boeing Aug. 4, N/A Cape Canaveral AFB Sea Launch Aug. 7, 8:31 p.m. PDT Sea Launch Platform in the Pacific Ocean Orbital Aug. 12, 7:09 p.m. PDT Vandenberg AFB...

Military Communications Satellite Launch Delayed Indefinitely.
August 4, 2003... The launch of the DSCS III B6 military communications satellite aboard a Delta IV rocket from Cape Canaveral, Fla., has been postponed indefinitely, U.S. Air Force and Boeing [NYSE: BA] officials announced Monday. The launch team will be...

Harris Gets Reflector Contract for Japanese Satellite.
August 4, 2003... Harris [NYSE: HRS], a Melbourne, Fla.-based manufacturer, integrator and services supplier of satellite communications systems, has been awarded a contract by Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] to provide an unfurlable mesh reflector for the JCSAT-9...

HNS Tops 12 Million in STB Receivers.
August 4, 2003... Hughes Network Systems (HNS), the Germantown, Md.-based broadband satellite unit of Hughes Electronics [NYSE: GMH], announced Monday that it had shipped 12 million DirecTV satellite receivers since it began production in 1996. In the second...

EchoStar Announces Partial Redemption of Senior Notes.
August 4, 2003... EchoStar Communications [Nasdaq:DISH] announced that its subsidiary, EchoStar DBS, has elected to redeem $245 million principal amount of its 9 1/8 percent senior notes due 2009, fully exercising its optional partial redemption right. The...

Air Force C2 Constellation Contract to Lockheed Martin Team.
August 4, 2003... The U.S. Air Force awarded an industry team led by Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] a $3 million contract to develop the architecture for the next-generation Command and Control (C2) Constellation, the Air Force's global network of C2 and...

UK Forces to Get Portable Smart Rocket System.
August 4, 2003... The U.K. Ministry of Defence is investigating ways of providing its military forces with a lightweight artillery system capable of firing missiles with pin-point accuracy using GPS guidance. The system, known as the Lightweight Mobile Artillery...

Globecomm Adds $4.7M In Infrastructure Contracts.
August 5, 2003... Globecomm Systems [Nasdaq: GCOM], a provider of satellite-based communications solutions, has been awarded two satellite infrastructure contracts from existing customers valued at more than $4.7 million. Under the terms of the first...

DirecTV, NDS Announce Stay in Litigation.
August 5, 2003... DirecTV and NDS Group have agreed to stay the litigation between them until the anticipated closing of the acquisition by NDS' parent company, News Corp [NYSE: NWS], of 34 percent of DirecTV's parent company, Hughes Electronics [NYSE: GMH]. The...

Spacehab Unit Lands NASA Satellite Support Contract.
August 5, 2003... Spacehab's [Nasdaq: SPAB] Astrotech Space Operations subsidiary has been awarded a contract by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to provide payload processing services for Aura, the third mission of the Earth Observing System...

Hughes Network Launches Satellite-Based Wi-Fi.
August 5, 2003... Hughes Network Systems (HNS), the Germantown, Md.-based satellite broadband unit of Hughes Electronics [NYSE: GMH], is offering a new Wi-Fi service to leisure travelers for secure wireless high-speed Internet access via its DirecWay satellites....

SkyFrames, Orbit to Install Satellite-Broadband Wi-Fi Hotspot in Alaska.
August 5, 2003... SkyFrames [OTC BB: SKYU.OB], a Cost Mesa, Calif.-based provider of satellite broadband Internet services, has signed a value-added reseller agreement with Orbit Communications Solutions to implement a Wi-Fi hotspot in Craig, Alaska. The initial...

EPHONE, Champion Teleport Complete Merger.
August 5, 2003... ePHONE Telecom [OTC BB: EPHO.OB], an Internet telephony services provider for commercial and residential users, has completed its proposed merger with Champion Teleport, a satellite broadband and broadcasting company. On May 9, ePHONE...

FCC Announces New Telecom Policy for Alaska.
August 6, 2003... The Federal Communications Commission has ended its long-standing "Alaska Bush" satellite earth station policy and instead is allowing open-entry, facilities-based telecom competition in Alaska's rural communities. The Alaska Bush...

Intelsat Appoints Two Executives At Internet Business Unit.
August 6, 2003... Intelsat appointed Stephen Spengler as a vice president for sales for its largest customer segment--the data, carrier and Internet segment. The company also named Ashley Fernandes as a regional vice president for Asia Pacific at the unit....

PGS Geophysical Renews Satellite Contract With Telenor.
August 6, 2003... PGS Geophysical of Norway has renewed its global satellite communications agreement with Telenor Satellite Services through June 2005. Telenor began providing communications via satellite to PGS in 1995. The current agreement calls for...

Mentat, Metrodata Partner For Satellite Networking Solutions.
August 6, 2003... Metrodata and Mentat are partnering to offer cost-saving solutions for satellite networking. By utilizing Metrodata's Ethernet-to-serial interface converters, users can connect Mentat's SkyX satellite link accelerators into a satellite network...

Orbital Selected for $25M Scientific Satellite.
August 6, 2003... Dulles, Va.-based Orbital Sciences [NYSE: ORB] has been awarded the initial phase of a $25 million satellite manufacturing contract from a university team led by Hampton University in Hampton, Va., with the University of Colorado's Laboratory...

Frequency Electronics Gets Satellite Contract.
August 6, 2003... Frequency Electronics [AMEX: FEI] has been awarded a $2 million contract to provide reference oscillators and frequency synthesizers for an undisclosed communication satellite. Delivery of these products is to be completed within 18 months. ...

Orbcomm Inks GPS Deal With GEOTrac Systems.
August 7, 2003... Orbcomm, a Dulles, Va.-based satellite communications company, has signed an agreement to provide data communication services for the GPS products with GEOTrac Systems is developing for oil and transportation companies to monitor their vehicles...

A&E Signs with SES Americom for Satellite Services.
August 7, 2003... New York-based A&E Television Networks has signed a long-term service agreement with SES Americom for follow-on C-band transponder capacity on AMC-11, the successor satellite to Satcom C-3. Beginning in 2004, AMC-11 will be used for the...

Qwest Introduces DISH Satellite TV Package.
August 7, 2003... Following up on its deal with EchoStar Communications [Nasdaq: DISH], Qwest Communications International [NYSE: Q] announced Thursday that it is offering $5 monthly discounts on DISH Network satellite TV service to Colorado and Nebraska...

GM Builds 500,000 XM-Equipped Vehicles.
August 7, 2003... General Motors [NYSE: GM] announced that the 500,000th XM Satellite Radio [Nasdaq: XMSR]- equipped vehicle will roll off the production line in mid-August. GM, an owner of XM, has been increasing availability and volume of XM-equipped vehicles...

Trimble Adds Timing, Position and Safety to Rail Yards.
August 7, 2003... Trimble [Nasdaq: TRMB], a Sunnyvale, Calif.-based GPS products maker, has been chosen as the primary GPS timing supplier for Cattron-Theimeg's ACCUSPEED locomotive radio remote control system. The system allows rail yard operators to control...

Maryland County Picks ISECUREtrac Tracking Device.
August 7, 2003... iSECUREtrac [OTC BB: ISRE.OB], an Omaha, Neb.-based developer of GPS devices for tracking and monitoring, announced that Montgomery County, Md., will deploy its tracNET24 GPS tracking system for use with parolees from its corrections system....

Sea Launch Blasts EchoStar IX/Telstar 13 Into Orbit.
August 8, 2003... On Thursday at 8:31 p.m. PDT (11:31 p.m. EDT), the Sea Launch Zenit-3SL rocket lifted the EchoStar IX/Telstar 13 satellite from the Odyssey Launch Platform in the Pacific Ocean. Sea Launch said the spacecraft successfully separated from the...

Globecomm Gets Iraq Contract from Bechtel.
August 8, 2003... Globecomm Systems [Nasdaq: GCOM], a provider of end-to-end satellitebased communications solutions, has been awarded a contract from engineering, construction, and project management firm Bechtel in support of the U.S. government's Iraq...

XM Orders Fourth Boeing Satellite.
August 8, 2003... Boeing [NYSE: BA] will build and deliver a fourth Boeing 702 satellite for XM Satellite Radio [Nasdaq: XMSR], the Washington, D.C.-based satellite radio services provider. The satellite, designated XM-4, will be delivered in late 2005 for...

Chicago Tribune To Be Delivered Via Satellite.
August 8, 2003... Satellite Newspapers Worldwide, a Netherlands-based satellite distributor of digital newspaper editions, has signed a distribution agreement with the Chicago Tribune for the paper to be delivered via satellite to newspaper-vending machines...

AAA: GPS Telematics Improve Vehicle Safety.
August 8, 2003... An American Automobile Association study recommends that hands-free GPS navigation systems be used in vehicles because they are safer and less districting than paper maps. Unlike a paper map or pre-generated directions printed off the Internet,...

Spending on Satellite, Cable TV Boosts Communications Industry.
August 11, 2003... Communications spending rebounded 3.3 percent to $608.7 billion in 2002, driven primarily by consumer spending on media such as cable & satellite television, filmed entertainment and video games, according to Veronis Suhler Stevenson's 2003...

Cable Companies Invest In SkyStream Networks.
August 11, 2003... SkyStream Networks, a Sunnyvale, Calif.-based provider of video networking solutions to satellite operators and telecom providers, has secured additional private funding from strategic investors. Investors include Comcast Interactive Capital,...

Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Selects MSV's Services for Command-Post Vehicles.
August 11, 2003... Miami-Dade (Fla.) Fire Rescue has selected Mobile Satellite Ventures' (MSV) voice and radio-dispatch services as a component of its new command vehicle design. Operating on a push-to-talk principle, MSV's two-way, wireless dispatch radio...

Bell ExpressVu Steps Up Campaign Against Signal Theft.
August 11, 2003... Bell ExpressVu, the satellite TV unit of Canada's BCE [NYSE: BCE], is expanding its efforts to combat television signal theft with a series of new initiatives to be launched this year. This program includes remotely deactivating satellite...

DirecTV Reaches Settlement Agreement With NRTC.
August 11, 2003... DirecTV, the satellite TV unit of Hughes Electronics [NYSE: GMH], announced that it has reached a settlement agreement with the National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative (NRTC) dismissing their claims against each other currently pending in...

CSI Wireless Closes $3.8M Private Placement.
August 11, 2003... CSI Wireless [TSX: CSY], a Calgary, Canada-based designer and manufacturer of wireless and GPS products, has successfully closed an offering of 3,305,750 stock and warrant units. The units were issued at a price of C$1.60 (US$1.16) per unit...

New Skies Notches Earnings, Revenue Growth.
August 12, 2003... Cost controls, stabilizing prices and additional capacity allowed Dutch satellite services provider New Skies Satellites [NYSE: NSK] to post higher earnings and revenues for the second quarter, compared with the same period last year. ...

Gilat's Spacenet To Provide VSAT Services For Arby's.
August 12, 2003... Gilat Satellite Networks' [Nasdaq: GILTF] Spacenet has been selected by RTM Restaurant Group to provide a broadband VSAT network to its Arby's restaurants and other fast food restaurant locations. Arby's operates 1,049 restaurants in 21states,...

Sea Launch Signs Pact To Launch XM-4 Satellite.
August 12, 2003... Sea Launch, a joint venture of Boeing [NYSE: BA] and international partners, has received a contract from XM Satellite Radio [Nasdaq: XMSR] to launch the XM-4 satellite on a Zenit rocket in 2006. Sea Launch placed the first two XM...

U.S. Military Satellite Launch Delayed Until Late August.
August 12, 2003... Boeing [NYSE: BA] and U.S. Air Force officials again have delayed the launch of the Defense Satellite Communications System spacecraft (DSCS III B6) from the Cape Canaveral, Fla. The launch now is scheduled for Aug. 28, with back up days on...

Ariane 5 Launch of Three Satellites Delayed.
August 12, 2003... Arianespace announced that it is postponing the launch of three satellites aboard an Ariane 5 rocket from its Spaceport in French Guiana from Aug. 28 to Sept. 3. The company said the delay was the result of a request from one of its customers...

Comtech Gets $1 Million Contract for High-Speed Satellite Modems.
August 12, 2003... Comtech Telecommunications' [Nasdaq: CMTL] Tempe, Ariz.-based subsidiary, Comtech EF Data, has received a $1million contract for its high-speed satellite modems from an undisclosed customer. Comtech officials said the company's modems can...

EchoStar Reports Strongly Rising Net Income In Second Quarter 2003.
August 13, 2003... Littleton, Colo.-based EchoStar Communications [Nasdaq: DISH], fueled by a gain of 270,000 net new subscribers, boosted its second quarter 2003 revenues to $1.41 billion, up 21 percent from $1.17 billion for the same quarter last year. The...

Orbital Sciences Successfully Launches NASA/Canadian Space Agency Satellite.
August 13, 2003... Dulles, Va.-based Orbital Sciences [NYSE: ORB] used its Pegasus rocket to launch a scientific satellite, SCISAT-1, for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Canadian Space Agency. Yesterday's mission from...

Telenor Upgrades Global Inmarsat C Network.
August 13, 2003... Telenor Satellite Services has upgraded its Inmarsat C ground network and has begun transitioning all of its Inmarsat C services to its earth station at Eik in Norway. As a result of re-engineering its network, Telenor has standardized the...

Bluewire To Provide Rural Communities In UK With Broadband.
August 13, 2003... Bluewire Solutions, a unit of Chronos Technology, is offering rural communities and small businesses in the United Kingdom broadband solutions based on radio, satellite and DSL technology. Bluewire Solutions is in the process of supplying a...

iSECUREtrac To Buy Tracking Systems In $2.3 Million Stock Swap Deal.
August 13, 2003... iSECUREtrac Corp. [OTC BB: ISRE.OB], an Omaha, Neb.-based developer of global positioning systems (GPS) for tracking and monitoring, signed a stock swap deal with Tracking Systems Corp., a Harrisburg, Pa.-based electronic monitoring services...

Power2Ship To Provide GPS/PDA Devices For ARL Trucks.
August 13, 2003... Power2Ship [OTC BB: PWRI.OB] has entered into a non-binding letter of intent with ARL to provide ARL's 70 agents, operating 500 trucks, with a Power2Ship GPS/PDA device for each truck under a 36-month service contract. These devices capture a...

Gilat Posts Slightly Higher Revenues, Large Losses.
August 14, 2003... Petah Tikva, Israel-based Gilat Satellite Networks [Nasdaq: GILTF] notched slightly improved revenues for second quarter, reaching $52.1 million, up from $51.6 million in 2002. Gilat's operating loss for the second quarter hit $31.5 million,...

Space Imaging Gets Southern Wildfire Risk Assessment Contract.
August 14, 2003... Space Imaging has received a contract from the Southern Group of State Foresters (SGSF) to provide satellite imagery and other products in support of fire management planning and wildfire risk analysis in the organization's 13 states. The...

Court Grants EchoStar's Motion In Fight With Broadcasters.
August 14, 2003... The U.S. Court of Appeals 11th Circuit Court in Atlanta has granted EchoStar Communications' [Nasdaq: DISH] motion to stay a district court's injunction, pending appeal. The court decision impacts a long-running case regarding the limits...

ORBCOMM Selects EDC As Sub-Saharan Africa Distributor.
August 14, 2003... Dulles, Va.-based ORBCOMM has selected European Datacomm Holding (EDC) as its service distribution partner in the sub-Saharan Africa region to market ORBCOMM's low-earth orbit satellite services to commercial customers. Both companies are...

Garmin Unveils GPS-Enabled Personal Training System.
August 14, 2003... Garmin International, a unit of Garmin [Nasdaq: GRMN], has launched an integrated personal training system that offers a GPS sensor to provide users with data on speed, distance and pace for a variety of athletic applications. The...

Cable TV's Western Show Heads For Last Round-up.
August 14, 2003... The 36-year tradition of the cable TV industry offering its Western Show will come to a close this year when the final conference takes place in December. The Western Show has been a key place for groundbreaking announcements of new cable...