Latest figures released today by leading broadband analyst firm Point Topic, reveal which countries have triumphed the broadband “crunch”, and those that have battled their way through to meet, or even exceed, expectations set in 2009.Oliver Johnson, CEO at Point Topic, said: “This has been a difficult period for the world. Markets have been subject to a number of internal and external shocks that have made it pretty difficult for crystal ball gazers.

Mobile is both Facebook’s Achilles heel and future says Guillermo Escofet, Senior Analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media.
Facebook has been at the forefront of the big growth in mobile data usage in recent years. It is indisputably one of the big stars of mobile; one that most operators have wanted to ally themselves with to drive the sale of data plans on their networks.

IBC is the leading forum for the electronic media and entertainment industry attracting over 50,000 professionals from more than 160 countries and combines an internationally renowned conference with a first class exhibition featuring the latest media technology innovation.

SES  announced today that its German HD+ platform reached more than 2.6 million households at the end of the first quarter of this year. More than half a million of them are paying the annual service fee. Nearly three million HD+ receivers have been sold since the launch of HD+ at the end of 2009.

For the first time, the CommunicAsia2012 Summit will see two visionary speakers and over 180 distinguished international speakers at the region’s largest gathering of ICT professionals and industry experts. Ms. Aliza Knox, Managing Director of Commerce for Google Asia Pacific and Ambassador David A. Gross, Partner at Wiley Rein LLP, will deliver Visionary Addresses on Wednesday, 20 June at Marina Bay Sands.

During Satellite 2012, the Society of Satellite Professionals International (SSPI) bestowed the Industry Innovators Awards on Eutelsat Communications and ViaSat Inc in recognition of the development and launch of their High Throughput Satellites (HTS), KA-SAT and ViaSat-1, respectively. High frequency reuse and multiple spot beam architecture have packed 10 times capacity on these Ka-Band satellites without any deployment cost penalties.

Space is coming to L.A. in the form of a brand-new show called Spacecraft Technology Expo. To be held at the Los Angeles Convention Center May 8-10, this free-to-attend event is dedicated to bringing together global decision makers, engineers and the supply chain involved in spacecraft, satellite, launch vehicle and space-related technologies.

Focused on the design, build and testing of spacecraft, the expo will feature over 120 space-qualified companies promoting testing and design services, software products and component manufacturing through to complete spacecraft.

This month the West Africa Cable System (WACS) that will link Southern and Western Africa with Europe will start providing 15 African countries with 5.12Tbps submarine cable bandwidth capacity. In another month or so, the US $700 million Africa Coast to Europe(ACE) 5.12 Tbs submarine cable that will connect 23 countries will also start carrying broadband Internet traffic commercially.  The two cable systems will play a key role in reducing digital divides across the region and in connecting Africa with the rest of the world.

Bright lights.  Big crowds.  Penn & Teller, Circe de Soleil and showgirls wearing costumes that would make their grandfathers blanch.  If it’s April, it must be NAB in Las Vegas.

Spanish satellite opeator Hispasat achieved record revenues of 187.5 million euros in 2011--a new high for the company.  Consolidated EBITDA was at 154.7 million euros, 7 per cent more than 2010. EBITDA margin increased 2.8 percentage points to 82.5 per cent, which shows  HISPASAT´s efficient management in 2011, a year in which the company reduced operating costs 120.9 per cent from 2010.