News Analysis

by Peter I. Galace

During the past ten years, Africa, the second-largest continent in terms of size and population after Asia, has made great strides in improving its telecommmunications infrastructure through submarine fiber cables landing on both the African Eastern and Western coastlines. Today, there are at least 14 operational, major submarine cables in sub-Saharan Africa, providing about 70 Tbit/s of design capacity and over 5.825 Tbit/s of lit, fully available capacity. This is more than double its international bandwidth of only 3 Tbps mark in December 2014. What’s more, a number of new submarine cables are expected to land later in 2018 and into 2019, with local hubs at Djibouti, Angola and Nigeria, further increasing Africa’s capacity.

Melville, N.Y., Nov. 5, 2018--Comtech Telecommunications Corp. (“Comtech”) (NASDAQ:CMTL) announced today that it entered into a new US$ 550.0 million credit facility (the “Credit Facility”) with a syndicate of lenders on October 31, 2018. The Credit Facility consists of a senior secured revolving loan facility with a borrowing limit of US $300.0 million and an accordion feature allowing the Company to borrow up to an additional $250.0 million, plus additional amounts subject to pro forma covenant compliance. The Credit Facility will be used for general corporate purposes, including supporting the Company’s growth strategies. The Company’s prior credit facility was refinanced in full.

The new Credit Facility has a five-year term which expires in October 2023 and provides for, among other things:

The November 2018 issue of  the Satellite Executive Briefing magazine focusing on the African satellite market sponsored by Comtech EF Data is now available. Featuring:

The African Satellite Market by Peter Galace

Conference Reports:

ITU World Telecom 2018, Durban, South Africa by Roxana Dunnette

China Commercial Aerospace Forum 2018, Wuhan, China  by Blaine Curcio

Is There Anyone Else  Up There? by Lou Zacharilla

December's Innovative Agenda and Year-end Plaudits by Martin Jarrold

Executive Spotlight Interview: Ingrid Poni, Chief Director, Multilateral Trade, Department of Telecommunications, Republic of South Africa

PLUS Mergers and Aquisitions, Executive Moves, Market Briefs, Satellite Markets Stock Index 25, Vital Statistics and many more. Click here to read or download the file

Ottawa, Canada, Nov. 1, 2018 —  Telesat Canada today announced its financial results for the three and nine-month periods ended September 30, 2018. For the quarter ended September 30, 2018, Telesat reported consolidated revenues of US$173.37 million (Ca$227 million), an increase of 6% US$9.93 million (Ca$13 million) compared to the same period in 2017.

Luxembourg, Nov. 1 , 2018 — Intelsat S.A. (NYSE: I) today reported total revenue of US$ 536.9 million and net loss attributable to Intelsat S.A. of US$ 374.6 million for the three months ended September 30, 2018.

Luxembourg, Oct. 26, 2018 — SES S.A. announced solid financial results for the nine and three months ended September 30,  2018 with group revenue growing, fuelled by strengthening double-digit growth at SES Networks.

Chicago,Ill. Oct. 24, 2018 — The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] reported third-quarter revenue of US$ 25.1 billion driven by higher defense volume and services growth. GAAP earnings per share increased to US$ 4.07 and core earnings per share increased to US$ 3.58 primarily driven by strong operating performance at Commercial Airplanes and a tax benefit related to a tax settlement. Results also reflect charges related to planned investments in the newly awarded T-X Trainer and MQ-25 programs ($0.93 per share). Boeing delivered strong operating cash flow of US$ 4.6 billion, repurchased US$ 2.5 billion of shares, and paid US$1 billion of dividends.

San Diego, Calif., Oct. 23, 2018 – Verimatrix, a specialist in securing and enhancing revenue for network-connected devices and services, has announced the acquisition of the assets that comprise the Akamai Identity Services (AIS) product from Akamai (NASDAQ: AKAM), the intelligent edge platform for securing and delivering digital experiences. Adding TV Everywhere (TVE) type service capabilities to the Verimatrix portfolio underscores the importance of a common authentication system to reduce friction within the content distribution workflow and ultimately support new ways to increase the value of the content chain on a global level.

Ottawa, Canada, Oct. 15, 2018 — C-COM Satellite Systems Inc. (TSXV: CMI), a leading global provider of mobile auto-deploying satellite antenna systems, announced today financial results for the third quarter ended August 31, 2018.C-COM said it generated revenues of CDN$ 4,002,223 and a net after tax profit of CDN$ 641,930 or 2 cents per share. This compared with revenues of CDN$ 2,341,016 and a net after tax profit of CDN$ 130,183 or 0 cents per share as reported in the same quarter of 2017, representing an increase of 71% and 393% respectively.

New York, NY, Oct. 14, 2018 — Harris Corporation (NYSE:HRS) and L3 Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:LLL) have agreed to combine in an all stock merger of equals to create a global defense technology leader, focused on developing differentiated and mission critical solutions for customers around the world. Under the terms of the merger agreement, which was unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both companies, L3 shareholders will receive a fixed exchange ratio of 1.30 shares of Harris common stock for each share of L3 common stock, consistent with the 60-trading day average exchange ratio of the two companies.