The annual gathering for the global satellite-enabled communications, Satellite 2010, starts today. Some than 9,300 satellite professionals will particpate in the conference, which runs March 15-18th, near Washington, D.C.
Their press release proclaimed that “dozens of ground-breaking satellite products and services will debut”. But news from exhibitors looked sparce.
Hughes Network Systems today announced that its 9350 BGAN mobile satellite terminals are now being delivered to JSAT Mobile Communications of Japan who, in turn, is providing them for the National Police Agency of Japan (pdf).
The terminals are being used for communications-on-the-move to broadcast real-time videos of emergency situations and natural disasters to police headquarters.
Fully type-approved for operation over Inmarsat’s Broadband Global Area Network (BGAN) satellite service, The Hughes 9350 BGAN terminal has a built-in Wi-Fi access point and offers high-performance mobile connectivity at data rates of up to 400 kbps. The compact tracking antenna is packaged with a magnetic roof mount and a single cable connection.
- ICO announced today that it has completed its rights offering. The Company received $30 million in gross proceeds in connection with the exercise of subscription rights by its stockholders and will be issuing 42,870,000 new shares of the Company’s Class A stock to participating stockholders.
The ICO G1 satellite successfully launched from Cape Canaveral on April 14, 2008. Their terminals, known as CFK-100s, operate in the 2GHz S-band, and can be used in both mobile and fixed environments.
Competitor TerreStar launched TerreStar-1 on July 1, 2009, the first step of a truly integrated satellite and 3G terrestrial communications network to service North America.
Both ICO and TerreStar have delayed their much ballyhooed pocket satellite phone service in North America. Each operate giant geosynchronous satellites using two 10-Mhz blocks of contiguous MSS spectrum in the 2 GHz band.
While ICO, TerreStar, SkyTerra and O3b Networks all plan impressive Satellite phone and Internet platforms, the industry has not taken off as anticipated.
Northern Sky Research says sales of VSAT networks strengthened in the last part of 2009 and into 2010, and it appears that recovery is well on its way for most regions of the world.
Related DailyWireless Space and Satellite News includes; Satellite Broadband Getting $100M Stimulus, ViaSat Buying Wild Blue, WildBlue: $30M, Shovel-ready, WiMAX and/or Satellite, Satellite 2009, Spot Beam Sats Multiply, TerreStar’s 60 Ft Antenna Deployed in Space, TerreStar Successfully Launched , AT&T/TerreStar Ready Satphone Service.
