Here’s a grab bag of satellite related news.
Miami-based New Valley, ended an agreement to invest $55 million in Globalstar, the bankrupt satellite telephone company. Buying a $4 billion system for $55 million seemed like a good deal at the time. Globalstar was set up by Loral and Qualcomm in 1994 to offer satellite-based mobile telephone services to business customers but fell on hard times as demand for its services was much smaller then expected.
In November, Globalstar reported that it had about $22.6 million cash on hand at the end of September, and it would need debtor-in-possession financing to complete its Chapter 11 restructuring. It has a burn rate of $4M/month and defaulted on loans to its founding companies in early 2001 and filed for bankruptcy protection in Feb. 2002.
Meanwhile Iridium LLC, founded by Motorola, filed for bankruptcy in 1999. Its assets were bought for $25 million in Dec. 2000 and is still operational. The military finds it useful and has bought large blocks of time.
The future for Craig McCaw’s ICO Global Telecommunications still uncertain. If ICO can use some of their spectrum for terrestial “cell phone” use, providers like Nextel (also owned by McCaw), could stand to gain.
More than a year ago, MSS operators Motient and ICO petitioned the FCC to give them some of that spectrum for an ancillary terrestial component (ATC) that would allow them to offer cellular-like terrestrial service along with their mobile satellite service.
Satellite phone signals can be disrupted by tall buildings and canyons. Terrestial “repeaters” enhance coverage and make the service more viable. Nextel’s Rural Push hopes to provide rural cellular phone service and “last mile” data connectivity combined with ICO for the backbone.
The Agriculture Department is finally adhering to portions of the 2002 farm bill that called for $1.4 billion in funding to bring broadband and telecom services to rural areas (loans are issued to communities with fewer than 20,000 residents). The Bush administration also announced this week their intent to use $196 million of the Agriculture Department’s 2004 budget on loans to telecommunications companies to improve rural high speed infrastructure through Rural Development Grants.
McCaw could establish cell-like services on the 2 GHz (satellite) band without having to pay for the spectrum, get it funded with USDA money, and use ICO for a backbone.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Billionaires need free government money, too. We’d just blow it on shoes and stuff rather than critical satellite infrastructure.
Currently ICO only has one satellite launched but it has plans to launch 11 others soon. Motient and New ICO state that the survival of MSS is in the public interest because without MSS, U.S. citizens in rural areas will be deprived of wireless and public-safety services.
That’s exactly what the FCC approved on Thursday.
The FCC’s decision to share satellite spectrum for terrestial “cell phone” use will let providers of satellite phone providers like Globalstar use some of their spectrum to provide terrestrial wireless service to improve coverage. The agency also agreed to reallocate some satellite spectrum for use by cellular providers. That was expected to mollify opposition by the terrestrial companies to the decision to give their satellite competitors “free”, land-based use of their airwaves. The new ruling gives the satellite providers and conventional wireless providers 30 additional megahertz of spectrum, as well as safeguards against the satellite companies using their new flexibility improperly. “The FCC’s decision to give failing satellite companies new technical rights is a giant giveaway that will cost taxpayers billions of dollars,” said CTIA President Tom Wheeler.
Unlike conventional wireless providers, which bought their spectrum in auction, Congress under the Orbit Act provided the satellite providers theirs for free.
In other satellite news: 
For emergency communications (or war coverage) satellites are indespensible. The Norsat NewsLink (above), can be carried in two suitcases and deployed easily in the field in several minutes without special tools. It allows the transmission of broadcast quality MPEG-2 video via DVB-S over satellite. The terminal is ideally suited for the transmission of video, voice, and IP data in remote or hostile environments.
The Inmarsat Regional BGAN satellite IP modem, developed by Hughes Network Systems… takes seconds to fine tune and seems foolproof … about the size of a couple of stacked magazines.” The satellite modem offers standard USB, Ethernet or Bluetooth wireless connectivity for laptops, PDAs or other mobile data terminals and can simultaneously send and receive packet data over a shared, 144 Kbps secure channel. The BGAN network delivers IP GPRS-type services throughout Europe, North Africa, Middle East and the Indian subcontinent, allowing access to the Internet, company intranets and to transfer files. PC Pro considered the modem to offer a more reliable connection than a ground-based GSM/GPRS connection.
Intelsat’s Occasional Video Solutions provide end-to-end networks with global coverage by leveraging five of Intelsat’s satellites, the 905 at 335.5E, 902 at 62E, 901 at 342E, 701 at 180E and the 707 at 359E. Video customers can use both C- and Ku-band coverage beams on these satellites, or request services over additional satellites as well. Customers can order all or part of a solution by contacting the Video Operations Center at videosolutions@intelsat.com or by calling +1 202 944 7100. Services can be ordered in one-minute increments with a 10-minute minimum commitment.
The first commercial deployment of non-line-of-sight (NLOS) self-install customer units, using Broadstorm’s 802.16a metro wireless unit linking to a Hughes Skycaster. Hughes provides a self-contained satellite Internet data service with their 4020 box providing VPN connections to PC’s and LANs based upon the Hughes DIRECWAY satellite Internet service. The last mile uses Broadstorms 802.16a.
Other domestic (U.S.) satellite internet services can be accessed by Tachyon’s transportable satellite dish and MotoSat’s mobile 2-way dish (FAQ).
Satellite-based internet provider Starband declared chapter 11 last year but is still operational. It may join with the Ka-band Wild Blue satellite internet service. Meanwhile the Hughes-backed DirecPC also plans to continue operation although neither Starband or DirecPC are making money. Next year the Ka band Wild Blue and SpaceWay will provide up to 1.5Mbps up and 5Mbps down using spot beams which should make a better business model since spectrum can be shared by more users.
Confusingly, DirecTV Broadband is NOT a satellite-based service like the Hughes-based, DirecPC. DirecTV Broadband is a DSL service provided under the DirectTV name. It’s poised to dismantle its high-speed Internet service in the next few weeks. The last of the 160,000 nationwide subscribers will be cut off on Feb. 28, with shutdown plans in December.
For more information, check out Lloyd Wood’s Satellite Constellations, the best site for LEO information.
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Posted by Sam Churchill
on Friday, January 31st, 2003 at 12:55 am.
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