I opened my previous column for this publication one month ago with the following statement: “In starting to draft this column it was impossible not to be affected by the news that the official global figure for Covid-19 fatalities was approaching 200,000. The zoonotic – interspecies – jump to humans and subsequent pandemic spread of the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) has badly impacted many of the world’s most advanced and richest countries, but the epidemiology tells us that the worst of the impact, on the less-developed world, is still to come.”

AVOD expenditure will more than double between 2019 and 2025 to reach US$ 53 billion across 138 countries according to Digital TV Research. 

The US became the largest AVOD expenditure country in 2019 as China saw expenditure fall by 8.9% due to its economic downturn.

As part of its ongoing Simplify & Amplify transformation program, satellite operator SES announced  that it plans to restructure its operations worldwide, including the consolidation of part of its European regional operations into the company’s global headquarters in Betzdorf, Luxembourg.

NSR’s Cloud Computing via Satellite report, released today, projects 52 Exabytes of Traffic by 2029, with players in the satellite and space industry contributing cumulative revenue of US$ 16 B from 2019-2029. The market is largely satcom-centric, with a significant portion of the revenue flow going to service providers and satellite operators.

The World Teleport Association (WTA) today announced the election of two new members to its Board of Directors for three-year terms beginning April 1, 2020: Jay LaPrise, Senior Vice President, Global Transmission Operations, Encompass Digital Media and Guido Neumann, Chief Development Officer & President EMEA, AXESS Networks.

In addition, the election returned one board member for a second term:

Comtech Telecommunications Corp. (NASDAQ: CMTL) announced today that during the Company’s third quarter of fiscal 2020, it closed an acquisition of NG-911 Inc., a pioneer of Next Generation 911 solutions for public safety agencies in the Midwest. NG-911 is one of the first Next Generation 911 solution providers in the Midwest and has successfully deployed regional Comtech Solacom systems in the past.

We live in a mobile world.  More and more, inhabitants of the developed world expect to be able to access data and video wherever they are, and at same connectivity speed that is available in their home or office.  High-speed internet access, has become a necessity.  In the developing world it paves the way to local commerce, education and economic growth.

Dr. Peter Guggenbach, the long-standing Head of RUAG Space, has decided to leave RUAG and take up a new professional challenge. Luis De Léon Chardel will assume responsibility on an interim basis for the Space segment as of June.

In its latest research titled, “Prospects for Maritime Satellite Communications,” Euroconsult projects that the previously growing maritime connectivity market will experience a significant setback due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Maritime VSAT connectivity reached an all-time high of 28,200 connected vessels at the end of 2019 but because of the current health crisis, the previous projection of 49,300 terminals by 2023 has been reduced to 40,600 units.

IBC2020 has been cancelled due to concerns for exhibitor and attendee safety and the ability to deliver an event of the quality expected of IBC. IBC2020 was due to take place 11-14 September in Amsterdam, but with many countries in Europe still in lockdown, IBC chief executive Michael Crimp said there were “many unknowns.”