Connectivity

Nigcomsat is making a new effort to promote satellite communications across Nigeria, one of Africa’s biggest markets, with a population of around 220 million people. It has announced plans for ‘Nigerian Satellite Week’ which will run from October 16 to 19. This event aims to highlight the importance of satellite technology in driving innovation, connectivity,...

Korea Telecom (KT), one of the largest telcos in Asia, has concluded a successful 5G NTN (non-terrestrial network) trial that brings satellite more into the mainstream in South Korea and lays the groundwork for KT to expand coverage across the country. It has worked with KT SAT to successfully integrate terrestrial 5G networks with the...

Rail cars in Brazil for freight train company MRS Logística are now equipped with Iridium satellite connectivity as part of a new collaboration announced Tuesday.  MRS is a freight train company in Brazil and its train network transports nearly 20% of all Brazilian exports and a third of the country’s railway cargo. Iridium partner Satcom...

The SES deal to acquire Intelsat will be remembered as one of the biggest news stories of 2024. After years of back-and-forth, will-they-won’t-they, two of the largest satellite operators are now working through a combination, pending regulatory approval. But what does it mean for Intelsat, a brand with a storied history in satellite communications? Via...

Air France selected SpaceX’s Starlink business as its satellite provider to upgrade Wi-Fi across its fleet. The deal, announced Sept. 26, is the second recent in-flight connectivity win for Starlink, after the United Airlines announcement earlier this month.  Air France plans to gradually equip its aircraft with Starlink connectivity starting in summer 2025, including its...

Eutelsat has won a new deal with Inmarsat Maritime, a Viasat company, which will see a more integrated multi-orbit solution bought to the maritime sector. The goal of this will to bring better high-speed, low-latency broadband solutions in maritime. Inmarsat Maritime will use Eutelsat’s OneWeb LEO network for integration into its NexusWave connectivity solution. The...

Iridium announced more details about its direct-to-device ambitions, announcing a service called Iridium NTN Direct that will connect people and things to Iridium’s network using 3GPP standards.  Iridium announced Wednesday that 3GPP accepted the company’s request to extend the functionality of Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) for Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN) into the Work Plan for...

Vodafone is expanding its work with Intelsat to bring on-the-move satellite communication to organizations operating in hard-to-reach areas or disaster zones. Vodafone and Intelsat announced Monday that Vodafone is adding Intelsat’s Flex portfolio to its satellite connectivity product range. This includes communications-on-the-move (COTM) with a vehicle-mounted antenna, and communications-on-the-pause (COTP) with a compact satellite terminal....

NASA awarded Intuitive Machines a contract to support the agency’s lunar relay systems as part of the Near Space Network. As part of this contract, Intuitive Machines plans to deploy a lunar satellite constellation to provide communication and navigation services for NASA’s Artemis activities on the Moon.  NASA announced the award for “Subcategory 2.2 Geostationary...

Luxury cruise line Regent Seven Seas has finished installing Starlink internet across its fleet of six ships. The cruise line provides unlimited Wi-Fi to guests for no additional charge.  Regent Seven Seas is owned by Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd., which announced plans to roll out Starlink across its brands in April of 2023.  The...