E-letter: Briefs

Alcatel-Lucent has launched a trial of its solution for a broadcast mobile TV platform using the DVB-SH standard in S-band, the company announced July 9. The pilot is running from […]

One Touch Systems and Mainstream Data will team up to provide interactive distance-learning and communication solutions to large and mid-sized corporate and government organizations, the companies announced July 10. Product […]

Thuraya has confirmed details of a new round of financing to fund its mobile satellite services business plans. The operator signed an agreement to raise $125 million through a syndicated […]

Integral Systems Inc. received a contract from ProtoStar to provide a ground system for the ProtoStar 1 satellite, Integral announced July 9. Integral will provide its Epoch Integrated Product Suite […]

Thrane & Thrane has licensed HelloSoft’s voice-over-Internet protocol (VOIP) technologies for its next-generation Explorer handset, HelloSoft announced July 10. HelloSoft provides software that enables VOIP on mobile handsets without having […]

GMV, a private, multinational firm headquartered in Madrid, increased overall revenues by 18 percent, or $90.6 million, in 2006, the company announced July 10. The company’s space and defense segment, […]

GloNav Inc., which develops GPS and other satellite navigation solutions, has appointed Paul Hansen vice president of customer design and support, the company announced July 9. Previously, Hansen, who co-invented […]

Sky Television New Zealand has launched on-demand services for its direct-to-home customers in New Zealand, the company announced July 8. The service provides My Sky subscribers the opportunity to receive […]

Solutrea Inc., a subsidiary of Powerstar International Inc., has been awarded a contract valued at more than $2 million from the Army and Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES) to install […]

Spacenet Inc. has introduced its Connexstar Digital Phone, a carrier class telephone solution available as part of the company’s Connexstar satellite service, Spacenet announced July 9. The service enables customers […]

The launch of NASA’s Dawn spacecraft has been rescheduled to September, NASA announced July 7. The primary reasons for the delay are a combination of limited launch opportunities in July […]

E’Prime Aerospace Corp. and Space Propulsion Systems Inc. have signed a strategic alliance agreement for Space Propulsion to share its patented concept for the design and manufacturing of advanced performance […]

TeleCommunication Systems Inc. (TCS) has received a $2.6 million contract from the U.S. Army to provide satellite parts and services for Defense Satellite Communication System (DSCS) terminals and the DSCS […]

Orbcomm Inc. added 28,000 net billable subscribers in the 2007 second quarter, the company announced July 5. The additions give Orbcomm a total subscriber base of more than 278,000 at […]

The European scientific community has submitted proposals for 50 new scientific missions following a call for proposals issued in March by the European Space Agency (ESA), the agency announced July […]

In a major blow to its pay-TV aspirations, Sogecable, which operates the Digital+ direct-to-home satellite platform, has lost the blue-chip Spanish soccer rights in Spain to Mediapro, a Spanish audiovisual […]

The scheduled July 7 launch of NASA’s Dawn spacecraft aboard a Delta 2 rocket has been postponed until July 9 at the earliest, NASA announced. Dawn, the first planetary spacecraft […]

Cathy Zhai, CFO of satellite solutions provider Norsat International Inc., resigned effective June 27, the company announced July 6. Until a successor is named, the CFO duties will be conducted […]

High-definition coverage of the 2007 Tour de France will be provided by Orange Group subsidiary GlobeCast to French broadcaster France Televisions and the European Broadcasting Union, Orange announced July 6. […]

ChinaSatcom’s Chinasat 6B telecommunication satellite was boosted into orbit July 5 by a Long March 3B rocket, satellite prime contractor Thales Alenia Space announced. Based on the Spacebus 4000 C2 […]

Arabsat will provide capacity on its Badr-4 satellite to Talia, a provider of Internet and voice services, Arabsat announced. Talia will use the transponder focused over the Middle East and […]

Guardian Mobility Corp. has launched the Tracer 3 product family of satellite modems designed to communicate via Globalstar’s simplex data network, Globalstar Inc. announced July 5. The modems are capable […]

Elta has released its R3G universal repeater, which will receive and retransmit signals from the GPS, Glonass and Galileo satellite navigation systems, as well as allow the signals to be […]

Mobile Satellite Ventures passed a critical design review milestone for its MSV-1 satellite that had been set by the International Bureau of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the company […]

Inmarsat is teaming with Instituto Ilhas do Brasil (the Institute of Brazilian Islands) to bring modern communications to some of Brazil’s most isolated offshore communities. Inmarsat is offering use of […]

SES Global has added Robert Ross and Ashok Ganguly to its board of directors, the company announced. Ross served as CEO of New Skies Satellites from 1998 until 2002 and […]

Telenor Satellite Services, a subsidiary of Telenor of Norway, has rolled out Terralink Secure Version 7.1, a secure networking value-added service to enable users to more effectively filter security attacks […]

The second SAR-Lupe satellite, part of the German observation system, has successfully been launched into orbit from the Plesetsk space center by a Russian Cosmos-3M rocket. SAR-Lupe provides continuous, high-resolution […]

Virgin Media confirmed July 3 that it has received a bid proposal from an unidentified company looking to purchase it. Though the provider of cable television, telephone, Internet and mobile […]

Premiere has announced a deal with a leading German investment bank as it prepares to launch Premiere Star in Germany later this year. HypoVereinsbank is taking a 10 percent stake […]