News Analysis

Le Centre Spatial Guyanais, Kourou, French Guiana , December 18, 2014: Arianspace successfully launched four satellites for O3b using a Soyuz rocket from the Space Center in French Guiana. The launch follows the successful launches of the first eight O3b satellites in two batches in June 2013 and July 2014, completing the initial constellation of 12 satellites for O3b's medium-earth orbit, all-Ka-band system.

Baikonour Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, December 15, 2014 – International Launch Services (ILS), successfully launched Gazprom Space Systems' Yamal-401 satellite into geosynchronous orbit today on a Proton rocket. This was the landmark 400th mission for the Proton launch vehicle since its first flight in 1965.

New York, NY, December 9, 2014– The World Teleport Association (WTA) published its annual rankings for the Top Teleport Operators of 2014. The annual rankings of companies by revenue and revenue growth are compiled by surveying teleport operators around the world as well as referencing the published results of publicly-held companies.

Palo Alto, Calif., December 5, 2014-- Spanish satellite telecommunications operator, HISPASAT, has contracted Space Systems Loral (SSL) to build the Amazonas 5 satellite, which will provide a wide range of telecommunications services in Latin America. This new satellite constitutes an expansion of the Amazonas 4B project, to which the full capacity of the Amazonas 4A was added.

Baku, Azerbaijan, December 2, 2014--Azercosmos OJC, national satellite operator of Azerbaijan, signed a strategic cooperation agreement with France's Airbus Defence and Space to take over the rights to operate and commercialize the SPOT 7 high resolution  optical Earth observation satellite, which was successfully launched on June 30, 2014. The satellite will be renamed as Azersky.

London, UK, November 25, 2014 – The demand for high throughput military satcom applications is growing as the use of unmanned aerial systems and implementation of command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance of C4ISR systems increase. High throughput satcom applications can support imagery streaming and seamless connectivity across tactical and strategic networks – capabilities which have become vital in the military space.

Geneva, Switzerland, November 24, 2014 – Over three billion people are now online and information and communication technology (ICT) growth remains buoyant in just about every country worldwide, according to ITU’s flagship annual Measuring the Information Society Report.

Beit Shemesh, Israel, November 21, 2014--Foxcom, a  provider of RF over Fiber solutions announced that it has been acquired by the Global Invacom Group Limited, a fully integrated satellite equipment provider headquartered in Singapore.

November 13, 2014, New York City—At an awards ceremony held on the first day of the SATCON Conference and Exhibition in New York City, the Third Annual Vision Awards announced winners in three categories:   Gary Hatch, Co-founder and CEO of ATCi Communications won the Visionary Executive of the Year; Integrasys’ Satmotion Pocket won the Innovative Product of the Year and Advantech Wireless won the Most Promising Company of the Year.