Once upon a time, a large teleport operator was hit by a major power outage.  Uninterruptible power supplies immediately kicked in and the NOC staff waited for the generator to start.  Nothing happened.  So, they switched to the backup generator.  Still nothing.  Work crews rushed to trouble-shoot the generator failures while the countdown timer on the UPS batteries ticked downward…and downward…and still downward.  Just minutes from total loss of power, the work crews got one of the generators started and customers suffered no loss of service.  

Since 2016, the FCC had approved satellite constellations for new Non-geostationary Orbit (NGSO) Systems and the latest ones given green light were Spacex, Telesat, Keppler, and Leosat in November 2018 authorizing nearly 8,000 small telecom satellites to serve U.S. entities from Low Earth Orbit allowing global coverage.

In my previous column I recounted the genesis of the GVF Satellite Hub Summit @ CABSAT, a progress which has led us, in 2019, to the 5th event in this successful series, which takes place over 12 to 14 March at Dubai International Convention & Exhibition Centre/Dubai World Trade Centre.

Telesat Canada reported today consolidated revenues of US$174.48 million (Ca$232 million) for the 4th quarter ending December 31, 2018, a decrease of 8% US$15.79 million (Ca$21 million) compared to the same period in 2017. When adjusted for the impact of foreign exchange rate changes, the revenue decreased by 9% or US$16.55 million (Ca$22 million) compared to the same period in 2017.

At the PTC 2019 in Honolulu, Hawaii, Satellite Markets and Research interviewed key excutives including Ronald van der Breggen, Chief Commercial Offic

Flight VS21, Arianespace’s second launch of the year, took place on Wednesday, February 27, at 6:37 p.m., (Kourou time) from the Guiana Space Center (CSG), Europe’s spaceport in French Guiana (South America).

LP Technologies has officially released LPT-LEO 1.0, the most innovative spectrum monitoring software for the Low Earth Orbit satellite market.

Comtech Telecommunications Corp. (Nasdaq: CMTL) has announced that during its second quarter of fiscal 2019, its Tempe, Arizona-based subsidiary, Comtech EF Data Corp., which is part of Comtech’s Commercial Solutions segment, received a delivery order in support of the recently awarded contract from the U.S. Naval Warfare Systems Command. This latest delivery order, against the US$ 59.0 million indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (“IDIQ”) contract, is for US$ 1.8 million.

2019 will see one of ITU’s most important meetings: The World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-19), to be held in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt from 28 October to 22 November 2019.

Hispasat, the Spanish satellite and telecommunications operator, is participating in the ongoing Barcelona Mobile World Congress to show the importance of satellites in the development of mobile networks and in connecting towers with their backbone network via satellites to provide cellular coverage in remote or uninhabited areas.