by Craig Bowley

It wasn’t so long ago that GEO satellites with their fleets numbering in the tens, dominated satcom. With geostationary satellites sitting at fixed points in the sky over the duration of their 15+ years lifespan, the ground segment was built to mirror their static nature. Needless to say, operation, management and coordination of both the space and ground segment was relatively straight forward. However, the advent of LEO satellites, with their offer of low latency and global coverage, has upended the satcom industry. 

by Blaine Curcio

It’s a fascinating time to be covering the space and satcom sector in Asia-Pacific. On the one hand, APAC is one of the regions most rapidly adopting Starlink and other global infrastructure. On the other hand, in an increasingly multipolar world, many of APAC’s larger and more developed countries are upping the ante in meaningful ways by investing into sovereign space infrastructure. At the center of this contrast lies an important, multifaceted question: how to balance the desire for sovereign space assets and technology transfer with the high costs and long-term timelines of such solutions? Over the course of May and June, I attended conferences in Jakarta, Singapore, and Daejeon (South Korea), giving three different perspectives on these questions.

Iridium Communications Inc. (Nasdaq: IRDM), a provider of global voice, data, and positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) satellite services, announced today that it has completed its acquisition of Aireon LLC, operator of the world's only space-based Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) air traffic surveillance system. 

Rocket Lab Corporation (Nasdaq: RKLB), a provider of launch and space systems and Iridium Communications Inc. (Nasdaq: IRDM), a provider of global voice, data, and positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) satellite services, today announced they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Rocket Lab will acquire Iridium. Rocket Lab will acquire all the outstanding shares of Iridium common stock for US$ 54 per share in a cash and stock transaction. This represents an enterprise value for Iridium of approximately US$ 8 billion.

Calian Group Ltd. (TSX: CGY), a mission-critical solutions company focused on defense, space, healthcare and other strategic critical infrastructure sectors, today announced that it has entered into a definitive purchase agreement with Crown Capital Partners Inc. to acquire Galaxy Broadband Communications.

Amazon, Iridium, Telesat and Globalstar announced the formation of a new trade association representing the non-geostationary (NGSO) satellite economy: the SpaceConnect Association. 

IBC2026 is set to bring the global media, entertainment and technology community together at the RAI Amsterdam from 11–14 September, enabling industry players from more than 170 countries to collaborate, network, learn and translate innovation into practical solutions, real-world outcomes and business opportunities – creating moments that matter.

by Virgil Labrador, Editor-in-Chief

Very Small Aperture Terminals or VSATs for short, have been widely adopted for network and connectivity applications globally by virtually every major industry including retail, enterprises, banks, financial institutions, transportation, logistics, utilities, mining, oil & gas and government agencies and the military, among others.  If you have ever used an ATM at a bank or paid at a pump at a gas station, your transaction most likely went through a VSAT network. According to most estimates, there are currently over 5 million VSAT terminals deployed worldwide  and the number of terminals are forecasted to more than double in the next decade.

Comtech Telecommunications Corp. (NASDAQ: CMTL) today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell most of its Satellite and Space Communications (“S&S”) segment to Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd. (NASDAQ: GILT, TASE: GILT), and become a focused public safety technology company. The Transaction was unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both Comtech and Gilat.

XipLink Inc. today announced nearly (20%) year-on-year revenue growth, fueled by the global adoption of its Advanced Satellite SD-WAN solution and the accelerating uptake of its XipNet cloud service. The company’s continued financial momentum reflects increasing demand from enterprises and service providers seeking reliable, high-performance connectivity across remote, hybrid, and bandwidth-constrained environments, as well as a growing preference for cloud-delivered networking solutions.