News Analysis

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.

Carlsbad, Calif., April 12, 2013 – ViaSat Inc. has acquired privately-held LonoCloud Inc., an early-stage company based in La Jolla, Calif. with expertise in cloud networking software.

Stockholm, Sweden, April 8, 2013--Ericsson has reached an agreement with Microsoft to acquire its TV solution Mediaroom business. This will make Ericsson the leading provider of IPTV and multi-screen solutions with a market share of over 25%. Closing expected during the second half of 2013. Mediaroom is situated in Mountain View, California and employs more than 400 people worldwide.

Luxembourg, April 3, 2013 – After months of eager anticipation, Intelsat Global Holdings S.A has finally announced details of its initial public offering this year. Intelsat said it was offering 21.74 million common shares and 3 million Series A mandatory convertible junior non-voting preferred shares in its IPO. 

Englewood, Colo., April 3, 2013--Dish Network Corp. is offering up to US $2.3 billion in senior notes in order to have funds for its 4G goals according to analysts.. Dish said on Wednesday it was offering $1.1 billion aggregate principal amount of 5.125% senior notes due 2020 and another US  $1.2 billion aggregate principal amount of 4.250% senior notes due 2018. Dish said the 2020 and the 2018 notes will be issued at an issue price of 100%.