News Analysis

by Lou Zacharilla

New York City, March 1, 2024--In 1910 the Supreme Court of the United States found Standard Oil Company of New Jersey guilty of monopolizing the petroleum industry through a series of abusive and anticompetitive actions. The Court's remedy was to divide Standard Oil into several geographically separate and eventually even competing firms. Reacting to the size and scale of this unfavorable ruling to the company he had founded, the head of the greatest business monopoly in history, John D. Rockefeller, allegedly said, “I expected it, but did not think it would be so BIG!”

by Bogdan Gogulan,  Managing Director of NewSpace Capital

Luxembourg City, March 1, 2024--Readers of this magazine will know that behind (or rather, above) many areas of modern life is satellite technology. 5G phone networks. Location tracking. Precision farming. Disaster prevention and response. Without satellites, next to none of this could exist or exist at the level of sophistication we enjoy now. The technology is so deeply integrated into modern life that if all the world’s satellites were to vanish tomorrow, we would be in serious trouble. And it’s why, despite the volatility of the past few years, the industry has continued to expand. In 2024, we can expect another big year.

The February 2024 issue of the Satellite Executive Briefing is now available.  Featuring:

Update on the Chinese Satellite Market by Blaine Curcio

Satellite-to-Phone Market by Bernardo Schneiderman

Key Takeaways from WRC 2023 by Ehtisham Siddique

Hardware to Software: The Ground Segment Evolution by Robert Bell

Plus Mergers and Acquisitions, Market Trends, Executive Moves, Vital Stats and many more. Click here to read or download the file

Boca Raton, Fla., February 5, 2024 – Terran Orbital Corporation (NYSE: LLAP) a provider of satellite-based solutions primarily serving the aerospace and defense industries, today announced that it has entered into an agreement with the investor group comprised of Sophis Investments LLC, Sophis GP LLC, Tassos Recachinas, Roark’s Drift, LLC, Joseph Roos, Jordi Puig-Suari, Roland Coelho and Austin Williams.

New York, NY, February 5, 2024–Satellite-direct-to-standard-phone provider Lynk Global, Inc.and Slam Corp. (NASDAQ: SLAM), a special purpose acquisition company, today announced that they have entered into a definitive business combination agreement  under which Slam will combine with Lynk. Upon completion, the combined company will operate as Lynk Global Holdings, Inc. and its common stock is expected to be publicly listed on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “LYNK”.

Hong Kong SAR, China, February 1, 2024--As we’ve said for quite some time, the satellite communications market in China has historically been a pretty vanilla affair. On the Geostationary (GEO) side, the state-owned China Satcom runs an effective monopoly on the provision of satellite services, occasionally buying additional capacity from its partial subsidiary APT Satellite, and from foreign operators. On the non-GEO side, we’ve seen limited activity from state-owned China Satellite Networks Limited (China SatNet), a centrally-controlled state-owned enterprise (SOE) founded in 2021 with the purpose of deploying a “Chinese version of Starlink”. 

by Robert Bell

New York City, February 1, 2024--Innovations taking place in the satellite sector continue to reshape the satellite services market. First it was HTS massively expanding the supply of bandwidth and reducing the cost per bit. Then it was LEO broadband, which made dynamic software-based management critical to connectivity. 

Paris, France, January 29, 2024 - Eutelsat Group (ISIN: FR0010221234 - Euronext Paris / London Stock Exchange: ETL) has completed the sale of OneWeb’s 50% share in the Airbus OneWeb Satellites joint venture.

Melville, N.Y., January 22, 2024—Comtech Telecommunications Corp. (NASDAQ: CMTL), a leading global technology company providing terrestrial and wireless network solutions, next-generation 911 emergency services, satellite and space communications technologies, and cloud native capabilities, today announced a US$ 45.0 million investment by current shareholders White Hat Capital Partners LP, an investment firm focused on sustainable value creation in technology companies serving mission-critical applications, and funds affiliated with Magnetar, a leading alternative investment manager with over US$14 billion of assets under management. In connection with the investment, the Company exchanged all outstanding shares of Comtech’s existing convertible preferred stock for a new series of convertible preferred stock.

Denver, CO., January 16, 2024 ―Imagine Communications, a provider of ad tech solutions for TV broadcast, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire  Marketron REV's broadcast sales and order management platform. By integrating the powerful sales growth engine into its core ad tech portfolio, Imagine now offers a comprehensive monetization solution that enables North American broadcasters to transform daily sales operations, maximize revenue and prepare for a future of converged orders and expanded audience measurement. The product will be re-released as CrossFlight™ after some key enhancements for broadcast TV and is expected to be available in early 2024.