Arianespace’s Soyuz launch vehicle is in the launch zone for a Thursday mission to launch satellites for Europe’s Galileo space-based navigation system. Arianespace will launch two satellites from French Guiana, it said Monday in a news release. The Galileo program will create a European-operated navigation system “providing highly accurate global positioning services through a constellation of 27 operational satellites and three reserves,” it said (http://bit.ly/1AsZHPp).
Dish Network accepted its first bitcoin payment, it said Thursday in a news release (http://bit.ly/XkQR8F). The bitcoin payment option is now available for Dish customers through www.mydish.com, it said. Customers will still have the option to make any payment online with a credit card, debit card or from a bank account, it said.
The FCC International Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology allowed EchoStar to modify its license for the EchoStar 6 satellite. The satellite can operate at 96.2 degrees west, and use the 12.2-12.7 GHz and 17.3-17.8 GHz frequency bands, the offices said Tuesday in an order (http://bit.ly/VgGNvJ). They also granted related applications for modification of three EchoStar licenses for earth stations used for technical support of EchoStar 6 operations, the order said. Granting the modifications will serve the public interest by facilitating possible development of new services to the Atlantic Ocean region, it said.
Dish Network will air the forthcoming SEC Network on channel 404. Current subscribers to the America’s Top 120+ package or higher will receive the SEC Network and Longhorn Network at no additional cost, Dish said Monday in a news release (http://bit.ly/XXGBmw). The network will launch Thursday, Dish said.
The California Assembly passed SB-962, which would require smartphones sold in the state after July 1, 2015, to be pre-equipped with a kill switch that could be activated if the device is lost or stolen. The state Senate had previously also passed the bill, introduced by Democratic state Sen. Mark Leno, but must now vote on it again to concur with amendments added by the Assembly, Leno’s office said (http://bit.ly/1nx06aO). One amendment would allow the continued sale of smartphones introduced before 2015 that can’t “reasonably” be re-engineered. The bill’s passage Thursday in the Assembly means “we are on the verge of implementing regulations that will have tremendous benefits to public safety,” said San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón in a news release. The bill had encountered significant opposition from the wireless industry, but its prospects improved last month after the Assembly’s Utilities and Commerce Committee approved the bill.
Gogo again told the FCC that the public interest would be best served by dividing the proposed 500 MHz air-to-ground (ATG) mobile broadband service into four 125 MHz licenses. A single 125 MHz license could provide more than 16 times the peak capacity of Gogo’s current ATG network and more than 110 times the capacity of conventional Ku-band satellite systems, Gogo said in an ex parte filing posted Wednesday in docket 13-114 (http://bit.ly/1AXMBe8). Coordination or protection requirements for certain federal services in the 14.0 GHz-14.5 GHz band wouldn’t impair the viability of any of the 125 MHz licenses, it said. Gogo also repeated that the commission should exempt ATG services from 911 and E-911 rules, including text-to-911, it said. The filing was about meetings with staff from the offices of Commissioners Mignon Clyburn, Ajit Pai, Mike O'Rielly and Jessica Rosenworcel, and other FCC staff.
Intelsat and Orange Niger signed a multiyear agreement for C-band capacity on Intelsat 903. Capacity will be used to support deployment of cellular backhaul services in Niger, Intelsat said Wednesday in a news release (http://bit.ly/1zU97De). Orange Niger will use its expanded network reach to offer broadband services to corporate enterprises, and mobile telecom services to customers, it said. Orange Niger also plans to move to Intelsat 35e when it enters service, Intelsat said.
Dish Network and A&E Networks renewed a multiyear contract providing Dish customers with access to the network’s content and programming from its entire portfolio. The agreement includes over-the-top multi-stream rights for live and VOD content, Dish said Tuesday in a news release (http://bit.ly/1v6MP2j). The OTT rights make the content available “to an untapped segment of customers that is seeking a flexible, content-driven, Internet-accessible service,” it said.
Space Systems Loral will build the Intelsat 36 satellite, it said. The satellite will be designed to provide media and content distribution services in Africa and South Asia, SSL said in a Monday news release (http://bit.ly/1zRDY3z). It will be located over the Indian Ocean to provide Ku- and C-band services with African pay-TV provider MultiChoice, “utilizing the Ku-band payload,” it said.
Intelsat Q2 sales fell 5.8 percent to $615.7 million from the year-ago quarter on lower transponder services revenue amid a sales decline in capacity sold for government applications and other decreases. Due to “improving cost and cash flow trends,” the company forecast 2014 revenue of as much as $2.5 billion, in Monday’s earnings release (http://bit.ly/1ot22W7). It said the company’s next launch, planned for Q4, is Intelsat 30, which will primarily serve DirecTV Latin America. Eleven satellite programs are in development, and the contracted backlog was $10.3 billion on June 30, Instelsat said. Last quarter’s profit of $56.9 million reversed a year-earlier net loss.