MDA taps IAI for Amos-6 communications payload solution

MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates (MDA) recently announced that Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) will provide the satellite communications payload solution for the Amos-6 satellite. The MDA contract is worth more than $100 million.

MDA had begun working the project ever since receiving authorization back in June 2012.

Israeli satellite communications service provider Spacecom is the owner-operator of the Amos satellite constellation. The constellation delivers a large range of fixed and mobile communication services (such as Internet on satellite connectivity) to customers in Africa, the Middle East, Central and Eastern Europe, and Central Asia.

Amos-6 will be the newest member of the Amos constellation. Set for a 2015 launch, it will refresh existing satellite capacity.

MDA and IAI have earlier cooperated in January 2008. MDA-built tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) served alongside IAI-designed Heron drone aircraft during Canada's mission in Afghanistan.

Telstra, Vision Asia enter deal for managed satellite services in Australia, New Zealand

A joint announcement by Australian telecom company Telstra and direct-to-home (DTH) satellite broadcaster Vision Asia revealed that the two companies have signed a ten year contract worth more than A$24 million ($25.1 million.) Telstra will provide managed satellite services for Vision Asia's audience in Australia and New Zealand.

As per the contract, Vision Asia will send its services to Telstra over the IS-19 satellite. Telstra will encrypt, encode, and transmit these services to itd partner's Australian and New Zealand customers

According to Vision Asia, the new Telstra solution will provide them with international satellite service of higher quality and greater efficiency. Vision Asia will also be able to access Telstra's service expertise and track record in delivering the best in-class content distribution and management services to Australia's media industry.

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CENI taps SES Broadband Services for connectivity during Burkina Faso parliamentary elections

SES Broadband Services has entered an agreement with the Independent National Elections Committee (CENI) of Burkina Faso for satellite broadband services during the African country's parliamentary elections on December 2, 2012.

The SES affiliate will be teaming up with Newtec, Access Sat, and Unicom. They will provide CENI with satellite equipment and bandwidth for Internet on satellite access, surveillance, and video conferencing services. They will also deploy a satellite communications network that will link together 14,698 polling stations, 45 electoral district offices that serve as the hubs for the stations, and the central election office in Burkina Faso'scapital city of Ouagadougou to ensure the swift and secure communication of ballots.

SES will leverage bandwidth from its satellite at the 5 degrees East orbital slot. Newtec is tasked with providing hardware and hub infrastructure. The VSAT terminals will be installed by Access Sat while Unicom will produce the equipment for the video and LAN network.

According to a statement by Mr. Barthelemy Kéré, the President of CENI, the Committee picked the satellite VSAT platformed offered by SES because it is able to deploy to and transmit electoral data from remote regions. The mobile satellite communications technology will help make sure that the electoral process in Burkina Faso stays transparent. SES and its partners will not only provide fast and reliable data transfer services. They will also deploy biometrics for the voter registration and other innovations.

SatCom Global's Horizon satellite communications terminal had hit significant growth milestones set by SCG's owner, One Horizon Group Plc., for the first half of 2012.

A recent announcement by One Horizon Group detailed the Horizon terminal's milestones. Horizon has processed over 67,000 pre-paid voice minutes and transferred 4GB of data in June. Furthermore, Horizon satellite communications units saved 14GB of data for its maritime customers through optimization, which was more than 75 percent compared to rival Inmarsat terminals. Horizon had also achieved a monthly voice growth of 68 to 92 percent throughout Q2 2012.

“Horizon’s substantial growth validates it has gained visibility with crew in the maritime industry," said Sandy Johnson, COO, SatCom Global, "and that they recognize the value that Horizon offers. Through the affordability that Horizon’s optimisation provides crew members have also been able to increase their time spent online by 59%.”

Maritime industry crewmen often stay isolated for long periods of time. The capacity to keep in touch with family and friends through cost-effective satellite communications would drastically increase morale and work efficiency.

SCG's Horizon satcom terminal puts mobile and fixed satellite network bandwidth to efficient use. Its optimisation technology uses as little as 20% data than other VoIP services and saves more of 20,000 bytes per website viewed. By making voice and data services more efficient, Horizon significantly reduces crew communications costs.

Horizon also allows crew members to track their call and surf expenditures. And gone are the days when crew needed to wait in a queue; Horizon uses an IP link to enable up to eight simultaneous calls.

SatCom Global's Horizon terminal empowers ship owners with the ability to provide voice and data services to their crew for morale purposes at an affordable price. SCG's SmartPacket technology allows VoIP using only 2kbps. Other VoIP services require around 8kpbs. Horizon extends the same optimizition to other data applications, resulting in compressed email, internet on satellite, and instant messaging services.