News Analysis

El Segundo, Calif., May 7, 2013 —DirecTV increased its first quarter 2013 revenues by 8 percent to $7.58 billion beating analysts expectations, although net income was down $690 million or $1.20 per share compared to $731 million or $1.07 per share a year ago.

by Peter I. Galace

New Delhi, May 7, 2013 — India has renewed calls to attract foreign investments to upgrade its industries to world standards. But attracting greater capital from abroad will not be easy as unclear rules, corruption, and bribery remain a fixture in the Indian business and politics. This is especially true for telecom, broadcasting and ICT investor companies who have done business in the Asian subcontinent during the last half decade.

Ottawa, Canada,  May 3, 2013 — Telesat Holdings Inc.’s first-quarter revenues increased by 12 percent year-over-year to US$217 million (CAD 219 million) while EBITDA increased 12 percent to US$ 168 million (CAD 170 million).

McLean, VA., May 2, 2013 — Iridium Communications Inc. on Friday reported a net income of $14.9 million, or $0.17 per diluted share, for the first quarter of 2013 compared to $12.4 million, or $0.16 per diluted share, for the first quarter of 2012. Operational EBITDA for the first quarter was $46.8 million compared to $43.9 million for the prior-year period, representing year-over-year growth of 7 percent and an OEBITDA margin of 53 percent.

Sydney, Australia, April 22, 2013--SpeedCast Ltd today announced the buyout of Pactel International, a satellite communications service provider based in Australia.    Pactel provides satellite communications solutions throughout Australia and the Pacific.  The company focuses on servicing its customers’ requirements for Internet, private networking and voice services.  Founded in 1999, Pactel is headquartered in Sydney, Australia, and has additional offices in Perth, Australia and Jakarta, Indonesia.   

Madrid, Spain, April 22, 2013--Spain’s Telefonica S.A. has sold its remaining shares in DTH provider Hispasat to Eutelsat for €56 million in cash.In its financial filing, Telefonica revealed it had signed a contract with Eutelsat Services & Beteiligungem, GmbH for the sale of its remaining stake in Hispasat, S.A., subject to approval of foreign investment.

by Peter Galace

Englewood, Colo., April 19, 2013 -- Dish Network Corp. chairman Charlie Ergen is gambling big time again. He has just upped the ante on the bidding game for Sprint Nextel, the third-largest U.S. wireless carrier, to US$25.5 billion in an effort to elbow out Japan’s SoftBank US$20.1 billion offer. The move is a big Blackjack gamble that Ergen is used to but the deal is rife with danger. Even if Ergen wins this bet, it could end into a pyrrhic victory and bring Dish to the edge.  

London, UK, April 18, 2013--After a slow start, digital TV penetration is about to rocket in Latin America – from less than a third of homes at end-2012 to nearly 45% by end-2013 and onto 84% by 2018, according to a new report from Digital TV Research. To put it another way, 100 million digital TV households (in the 19 countries covered in the Digital TV Latin America report) will be added between 2011 and 2018 to take the total to 134 million.

Rome, Italy, April 18, 2013 - Eutelsat Communications (Euronext Paris: ETL) today revealed the first results of its new survey on TV reception modes and trends across its global footprint, with a presentation in Rome of the Italian broadcasting landscape. Working in collaboration with Ipsos, Eutelsat announced that 8.2 million homes are now equipped with a Direct-to-Home antenna, consolidating the role of satellites as a core broadcast infrastructure serving one in three TV homes in Italy.

Ottawa, Canada, April 16, 2013--C-COM Satellite Systems Inc., a global provider of mobile auto-deploying satellite antenna systems, today announced financial results for its first quarter ending February 28, 2013.Revenues have increased by 50% to $3,929,630 compared with results from the same period last year, when total revenues were $2,611,986. The company is reporting a net income of $907,301, or 0.3 cent per share, compared with results for the same period last year when there was a net income of $283,659, or 0.1 cent per share.