News Analysis

Paris, France, February 12, 2021–The Board of Directors of Eutelsat Communications (Euronext Paris: ETL), reported the financial results for the half-year ended 31 December 2020. Rodolphe Belmer Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Eutelsat  said: “Eutelsat has produced a solid First Half performance with Operating Verticals revenues down by 2%, reflecting our resilience in the Covid-19 impacted context, and with an EBITDA margin at 76.7%, despite the costs associated with Broadband ramp-up. Free-cash flow generation at the half year stage already amply covers the dividend paid in November.”

McLean, Va., February 11, 2021–Iridium Communications Inc. (Nasdaq:IRDM)  today reported financial results for the fourth quarter of 2020 and issued its full-year 2021 guidance. Net loss was US$ 7.9 million, or $0.06 per diluted share, for the fourth quarter of 2020, as compared to net loss of US$ 107.9 million, or $0.82 per diluted share, for the fourth quarter of 2019.

MarketBrief Report on the Communications On The Move Market sponsored by BusinessCom Networks

A summary of the key trends and satellite solutions for the Comms on the Move (COTM) market.  Featuring:

Comms On The Move Market  by Virgil Labrador

Interview with Maxim Usatov, CTO and Founder, BusinessCom Networks

To read or download the pdf of full report click here.

Carlsbad, Calif., February 4, 2021--Viasat released third quarter Fiscal Year 2021 Financial results today in a letter to shareholders .  The quarterly company revenues were US$ 575.6 million versus US$ 588.2 million last year. Quarterly revenues were down 2.2% year on year (YoY) and EBITDA was up 20.6 % YoY.  The results were 6.6% above consensus.

Sydney, Australia, January 25, 2021–Speedcast International Limited (ASX:SDA) today announced that the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas has confirmed Speedcast International Limited and certain of its affiliates’ Plan of Reorganization. The confirmation definitively clears the path for the company to successfully complete the Chapter 11 process after receiving final regulatory approvals and satisfying customary closing conditions, which is expected by the end of the first quarter of 2021.

Cape Canaveral, Fla., January 24, 2021--At 10:00 a.m. US EST, SpaceX 's Falcon 9 rocked successfully launched its first dedicated SmallSat Rideshare  mission from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.On board the Falcon 9 rocket were 133 commercial and government spacecraft (including CubeSats, microsats, and orbital transfer vehicles) and 10 Starlink satellites – the most spacecraft ever deployed on a single mission.

Jacksonville, Fla., January 19, 2021--Redwire, a provider of  mission critical space solutions and high reliability components for the next generation space economy, announced today that it has acquired Oakman Aerospace, Inc. (OAI) a provider of cutting-edge products and services related to digital engineering, spacecraft and satellite design and development, mission payload development, and data distribution services. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Mojave, Calif., January 17, 2021—Virgin Orbit, the California-based satellite launch company, confirmed that its LauncherOne rocket reached space during the company’s second launch demonstration today, successfully deploying 10 payloads for NASA’s Launch Services Program (LSP) from a rocket launched from a Boeing 747.

by Omkar Nikam

Strasbourg, France, January 15, 2021--Ever since satellites have been launched in outer space, both opportunities and risks have increased in the various earth orbits. For more than 50 years, more than 5000 rockets have been launched carrying multiple space objects, mainly satellites into orbit. Today most of these objects are either turned backed to earth or continue to revolve in earth orbits, ultimately increasing the risks for existing and future space infrastructure in low earth- (LEO), medium earth- (MEO), and geosynchronous earth (GEO) orbits.

by Robert Bell

New York City, NY, January 15, 2021--Cellular backhaul via satellite is a big sector for the satellite industry.  It is also a vanishingly small percentage of total backhaul.  In 2020, the arrival of 5G has offered a similar paradox: hundreds of megahertz of C-band capacity have gone to feed the bandwidth appetite of 5G, yet 5G is the first cellular standard that is incorporating satellite as a native backhaul option. Our industry could be forgiven for feeling some whiplash.