Category: Mobility

Geospatial analytics provder Preligens (former Earth Cube): Owning satellites would be value-destroying for us

Geospatial analytics provder Preligens (former Earth Cube): Owning satellites would be value-destroying for us

Nov 30, 2020

PARIS — French geospatial analytics platform operator Preligens, formerly Earth Cube, will use its 20 million euros ($24 million) Series A funding to expand to an additional 10 NATO nations and bolster its presence in the United States.
Preligens Co-Founder and Chief Executive Arnaud Guérin said Preligens, already well-established with the French Defense Ministry, will also complete deployment of its platforms to French military operations centers in 2021.
Unlike Maxar Technologies, BlackSky and Airbus Defence and . . .
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For Loral, the end of a long wait. For Telesat, LEO equity light at the end of the tunnel in six months

For Loral, the end of a long wait. For Telesat, LEO equity light at the end of the tunnel in six months

Nov 27, 2020

PARIS — Loral Space and Communications Vice Chairman Michael B. Targoff said it would take a book to list all the reasons why the merger of Telesat and Loral into a single, publicly traded company — an obvious advantage for Telesat — took years to complete.
It’s still expected to take up to six month to complete given the number of U.S. and Canadian regulatory approvals needed. But industry officials said this delay, in itself, will not be a headwind for Telesat’s LEO satellite broadband project.

Smallsat hardware, service provider AAC Clyde: Space as a Service profit is double that of conventional deals

Smallsat hardware, service provider AAC Clyde: Space as a Service profit is double that of conventional deals

Nov 27, 2020

PARIS — Small satellite hardware and services provider AAC Clyde Space said its net profit margin for space-as-a-service (SaaS) contracts, in which AAC Clyde builds, launches and operates — and sometimes owns — satellites built under contract is more than double the margin on classic satellite- or component-sales deals.
Sweden- and Scotland-based AAC Clyde Space said demand for its full-service offering appears to be larger than for more traditional contract formulas.
AAC has notably entered into an SaaS contract with satellite/terrestrial IoT provider . . .
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After false starts with OneWeb & Telesat LEO, EU Commission asks industry for broadband constellation proposal

After false starts with OneWeb & Telesat LEO, EU Commission asks industry for broadband constellation proposal

Nov 24, 2020

PARIS — The European Commission has issued a call to Europe’s space sector to come up with a proposal for a constellation of broadband satellites that could satisfy both secure government-only and commercial digital-divide purposes.
The effort follows attempts earlier this year to have a European Union-backed purchase of the OneWeb broadband constellation out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and an effort to transform Telesat Canada’s LEO project, sill in need of financing, into an EU-Canada partnership.

Adrian Steckel on his wild ride as OneWeb CEO: ‘The UK and Bharti are executing our business plan’

Adrian Steckel on his wild ride as OneWeb CEO: ‘The UK and Bharti are executing our business plan’

Nov 20, 2020

PARIS — Adrian Steckel became OneWeb’s chief executive in September 2018 and knew he was in for a rough ride even if everything went well. Everything didn’t go well.
Already it was clear that lead investor SoftBank was having second thoughts about its position. Steckel’s determination to pivot OneWeb from Feed the World Broadband to Business Survival First was not without difficulties, including a lawsuit by Intelsat: http://bit.ly/2kFXJP3
Capex was flying . . .
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OneWeb exits 8 months of Chapter 11 having wiped away $3.4B in debt; needs $1.2B in new financing

OneWeb exits 8 months of Chapter 11 having wiped away $3.4B in debt; needs $1.2B in new financing

Nov 20, 2020

PARIS — The OneWeb Global satellite broadband company formally exited bankruptcy on Nov. 20 eight months after seeking the protection of the U.S. Chapter 11 restructuring process.
The company has reduced its debt by some $3.4 billion, including $1.6 billion in secured debt, and received commitments for $1 billion in new equity from the British government and telco network operator Bharti Global of India.
The British government owns a “golden share” of the new OneWeb, but its formal equity ownership is 42%. Bharti . . .
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Viasat to pay Eutelsat $166M for the ex-partners’ JV and Ka-Sat; stage set for direct broadband competition in EMEA

Viasat to pay Eutelsat $166M for the ex-partners’ JV and Ka-Sat; stage set for direct broadband competition in EMEA

Nov 19, 2020

PARIS — The slow-motion collapse of the Viasat-Eutelsat partnership to provide satellite broadband to consumers and businesses in Europe, the Middle East and Africa is now final with Viasat’s purchase of Eutelsat’s share of their joint broadband wholesaler and its Ka-Sat satellite.
The partnership began with Eutelsat needing Viasat’s help in starting a consumer broadband business in Europe after years of effort following the December 2010 launch of Eutelsat Ka-Sat, which has about 90 Gbps of throughput and is located at 9 degrees east.

Telecom Italia commits $178 million for consumer broadband on 2 Eutelsat Ka-band satelllites

Telecom Italia commits $178 million for consumer broadband on 2 Eutelsat Ka-band satelllites

Nov 18, 2020

PARIS — Telecom Italia Mobile (TIM) signed multi-year commitments valued at just under 150 million euros ($178 million) for capacity on Eutelsat’s Konnect Ka-band broadband satellite, already in service, and the Konnect VHTS spacecraft to launch in 2021.
The contract gives TIM exclusive distribution rights to all the Italian capacity on the 75-Gbps Konnect, whose beams cover 15 European nations and 39 nations in Africa; and “the vast majority” of the Italian capacity on the 500-Gbps Konnect VHTS, Eutelsat said in a Nov. 18 statement . . .
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Speedcast sells its Inmarsat maritime resale business to Inmarsat for $13.6 million and says: Good riddance

Speedcast sells its Inmarsat maritime resale business to Inmarsat for $13.6 million and says: Good riddance

Nov 16, 2020

PARIS — Speedcast International Ltd., unloading what it characterized as a marginally profitable, non-core business that showed no prospect for improvement, is selling its Inmarsat resale maritime activity to Inmarsat for $13.6 million as part of Speedcast’s ongoing Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Speedcast said it tried but failed to find another buyer for the business, which it said generated $41.3 million in revenue in 2019 but less than $2 million in EBITDA.
Under the terms of the deal, Speedcast could receive another $2 . . .
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ITU wants more information before extending deadline for Indonesia’s $1.44-billion Satria broadband satellite

ITU wants more information before extending deadline for Indonesia’s $1.44-billion Satria broadband satellite

Nov 16, 2020

PARIS — The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) rejected Indonesia’s request for a 14-month extension of the regulatory deadline to launch its Satria Ka-band broadband satellite, saying Indonesian authorities had provided insufficient proof that Covid was the sole cause of the delay.
The Indonesian government must now provide detailed documentation or face an ITU refusal.
Indonesia is one of a half-dozen governments petitioning the ITU’s Radio Regulations Board (RRB) for a declaration of force majeure with respect to Covid, a . . .
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