Panasonic Avionics expands satellite services in Australia with new ASC capacity

Having completed its commercial agreement with Australian Satellite Communications (ASC) to lease an entire transponder's worth of additional capacity on the Eutelsat 172A satellite, Panasonic Avionics Corporation is merely awaiting imminent approval from the appropriate regulatory body before offering expanded satellite services to Australia, New Zealand, and Tasmania.

The South Pacific Beam of the Eutelsat 172A satellite will provide new capacity for Panasonic's satellite services. The ASC will handle uplinking and downlinking from its Adelaide satellite Teleport.

Panasonic's in-flight Global Communications Service includes eXConnect satellite broadband, eXPhone mobile phone, and eXTV satellite TV.

eXConnect supports a broad range of passenger and crew applications. Its two-way high broadband connectivity can achieve up to 50 Mbps, and enables web access, voice, data, and real-time monitoring and transmission of airline operational data.

eXPhone is offered alongside in-flight mobile phone technology from AeroMobile. Passengers can keep in contact with loved ones and stay on top of work during flights through calls, texts, emails, browsing and use of applications. They can easily access eXPhone mobile data through mobile, Smartphone, and BlackBerry, as well as GSM-enabled tablets and laptops

Finally, the eXTV television network offers in-flight television programming to aircraft plying the world's airspace. The high-quality satellite TV content comes live and uninterrupted, and offers both global channels and regional channels. 

Recommended additional reading:

• OnAir powers in-flight Internet, Wi-Fi for Libyan Airlines Airbus aircraft

Intelsat secures two future launch missions with International Launch Services

Communications satellite services provider Intelsat S.A. has contracted International Launch Services (ILS) for two definite ILS Proton launch missions in the near future.

According to Thierry Guillemin, EVP and Chief Technology Officer of Intelsat, the Company considered 2012 to be a steady year. Intelsat enjoyed a quintet of successful communications satellite launches. It also completed the first global satellite broadband mobility platform in the world, which will provide increased bandwidth to its customers.

The new satellite launches with ILS will let Intelsat reach further into developing regions, allowing the Company to sate the demands of the ever-expanding market of consumers with highly-efficient and reliable connectivity.

Recommended additional reading:

• Norsat International snares satcom research, development fund from SADI

Thuraya, Pivotel of Australia now Service Partners for satphone services

Thuraya Telecommunications and Pivotel Group Pty Limited of Australia are teaming up to deliver Thuraya’s satellite services and products across Australia and Southern Asia via a Service Partner agreement.

Pivotel delivers voice, data, M2M, and other satellite services to the biggest installed base of mobile satellite users in Australia. It is the premier provider of mobile satellite services across multiple vertical markets in Australia such as consumers, construction, emergency services, maritime, mining, professional trades, and transport.

Thuraya’s suite of products will complement Pivotel’s current product range. Thuraya services will use standard Australia mobile numbers, allowing them to be ported from their current service provider to Pivotel.

Thuraya users will enjoy excellent value on their GSM mobile services. In addition, by paying for a small premium, they can access Thuraya's satellite network wherever they may be in Australia.

The Pivotel-Thuraya services will not charge customers for receiving incoming calls. Callers to a dual mode phone will be pleased to hear that they will only need to pay normal call-to-mobile rates.

Pivotel plans to create a new range of call plans tailored for the Thuraya XT DUAL handsets. The new call plans and DUAL handsets promise easy-to-use and unmatched mobile satellite services at low cost. 

Recommended additional readings:

• BCSS secures certification to market Inmarsat L-band satcom services
• Nordic Tankers migrates fleet over to Inmarsat XpressLink

Thuraya, Chunghwa win historic licensing agreement with Taiwan

Thuraya Telecommunications recently achieved a new historic first in the Taiwanese market. Together with partner Chunghwa Telecom, it has secured licensing approval from the country's national telecoms regulator. The two telecom companies can now deliver Thuraya's mobile satellite services to customers in Taiwan.

Licensing approval for Mobile Satellite Services had originally been limited to enterprise users. Thuraya's recently-acquired licensing agreement will allow Taiwanese consumers to access mobile satellite services without applying for individual licensing approval at the NCC

Thanks to the new licensing agreement, Thuraya can now deliver voice, data, and maritime services to subscribers of Chunghwa Telecom. Its Taiwanese customers will be able to access its services in 140 countries in Africa, Asia Pacific, Australia, Europe, the Middle East, and the surrounding regions.

Thuraya considers Taiwan to be an important market for growth. The Taiwanese fisheries sector drives a significant demand for voice and data services that are both cost-effective and reliable.

Recommended additional reading:

• Hughes wins $4.5 million contract for EDUSAT Project in India
• NATO awards Globecomm with $8.8M contract for GPS-based Force Tracking System Upgrade

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.

Recommended additional readings:

• NewSat’s Jabiru satellite program to strengthen Internet on satellite services
• FAA says mobile devices usage may boost in-flight entertainment services

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.

SES-GS, US government enter custom SATCOM solutions contract

SES Government Solutions (SES-GS) has entered into a Custom SATCOM Solutions (CS2) contract from the U.S. Government. SES-GS will provide access to their custom network solutions capabilities and their fleet of communications satellites.

The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) and the General Services Administration (GSA) created CS2 contracts to serve as the third segment of the Future Commercial Services Acquisition (FCSA.) The CS2 will open up more avenues of access to satellite services for government customers.

Thanks to the CS2 contract, the U.S. Government can directly approach SES-GS for customized communications capability and solutions on the satellite operator's fleet of 51 communications platforms.

Eight CS2 contracts have been awarded so far. The U.S. government has set a total funding ceiling of USD 2.6 billion that will be spent over the next three years with options for two additional one-year periods.

Interested in reading more satellite communications news?

• Skyware Global will develop VSAT terminals for Inmarsat Global Xpress launch 
• Romantis, C-COM creates joint commercial solution for turnkey VSAT projects

ITSO receives new mandate, Ugandan President pleads for affordable satellite communications

Last week, Ugandan President Yoweri Museven expressed his hopes that the International Telecommunication Satellite Organisation could use its recently-renewed mandate to make satellite communications services more affordable for landlocked countries.

The Daily Monitor reported that a week-long 35th ITSO Assembly of Parties took place in Kampala, Uganda. Representatives from 85 countries unanimously voted that the ITSO receive another eight-year mandate to oversee, regulate, and ensure price control of global satellite services.


The Assembly participants relied upon the ITSO to shield its member states from exploitation. This went double for landlocked countries like Uganda, which were far more reliant upon satellite communications.

In a speech read on his behalf, President Museven said that Uganda and other landlocked were concerned with the high cost of satellite communications. The Ugandan statesman asked ITSO to come up with ways to decrease the cost of satellite communications services for developing countries.

Most nations make heavy use of submarine cables for high-speed, bandwidth-heavy communications. Uganda and at least 26 other countries are landlocked, however. Their difficulties in accessing those cables and the expense of alternative satellite communications systems have resulted in very irregular and unreliable communications within those nations, which negatively impacted business and slowed down economic development.