July 2015

Leandro Gaunszer, commercial director, LATAM and country manager, Brazil, Media Networks. Photo: Media Networks [Via Satellite 07-27-2015] Pay-TV service provider Media Networks is shifting its focus primarily to HD, 4K and expanding the reach of television beyond the home. The company has close to 80 HD channels in Brazil and almost another 80 HD channels…

Yahsat and Clicksat sign Pakistan partnership. Photo: Yahsat. [Via Satellite 07-27-2015] Yahsat has signed an agreement with new service partner Clicksat, one of the fastest growing satellite solution companies in Southern Asia, to distribute its Internet broadband service, YahClick, to users across Pakistan. The partnership signing follows the official YahClick Pakistan launch on Monday, June…

View of Cape Town, South Africa from Table Mountain. Photo: Andres de Wet / Wikimedia Commons. [Via Satellite 07-27-2015] The U.K. Space Agency and the South African Space Agency (SANSA) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that will see them increase collaboration and review areas of common interest in their space programs. The MoU…

Telefónica’s headquarters in Madrid. Photo: Wikimedia Commons. [Via Satellite 07-27-2015] Telefonica Business Solutions, through its wholesale business unit, has launched a new Internet service for satellite video transmission in Ka-band through Media Networks’ platform (a part of Telefonica). This service was used during Mexico’s federal elections last June and in the FIFA Copa America 2015…

Norsat MarineLink COM10X. Photo: Norsat [Via Satellite 07-27-2015] Norsat International has received an approximate $700,000 follow-on order to the original $3.5 million award announced on February 19 from a Tier 1 Eurasian defense contractor for a range of Norsat’s portable satellite terminals. This follow-on order increases the total contract awarded to approximately $4.2 million. The increase in order is for additional…

Riyadh Al Adely, managing director at SkyStream. Photo: SkyStream [Via Satellite 07-24-2015] Middle East satellite service provider SkyStream is diversifying its business to include new verticals and a new role as a systems integrator. Services such as managing military networks and building teleports have added to the company’s profits as it looks to evolve amid…

Com Dev HTS components. Photo: Com Dev [Via Satellite 07-24-2015] Com Dev International has received an order from a satellite prime contractor to provide equipment for two commercial communications satellites. The initial Authorization to Proceed (ATP) is valued at approximately CA$11 million ($8.4 million), and is expected to lead to a full contract in excess of CA$45…

ULA’s Delta-4 launch of the WGS 7 satellite. Photo: ULA [Via Satellite 07-24-2015] United Launch Alliance (ULA) orbited the U.S. Air Force’s seventh Wideband Global Satcom (WGS 7) satellite July 23 aboard a Delta 4 rocket. The satellite features a payload upgrade from prime contractor Boeing that enables 17 percent more secure communications bandwidth than…

The Skynet 5A satellite artist rendering. Photo: Airbus Defence and Space [Via Satellite 07-24-2015] The 67,000km move of Airbus Defence and Space’s Skynet 5A satellite from 6 degrees east to its new position at 94.8 degrees east is on track to arrive this autumn. Airbus Defence and Space announced the relocation at the SATELLITE 2015…

Ruta BBVA Expedition 2010. Photo: Ruta BBVA [Via Satellite 07-24-2015] Hispasat has agreed to supply satellite communications to the Ruta BBVA organization, an educational and scientific program dedicated to strengthening ties between young Europeans and Latin Americans of the Iberoamerican Community of Nations, for the Colombian part of their journey. Ruta BBVA begins its trip…