SpeedCast now owns Aussie satellite communications solutions provider ASC

Meet your new owner, Australian Satellite Communications (ASC.) SpeedCast has recently acquired the Australian SATCOM company to improve the managed networks services that SpeedCast delivers throughout Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and the rest of the Pacific region.

ASC delivers satellite communications solutions to mining and oil & gas industries and the construction, government, and maritime sectors of Australia and its surrounding regions. The Company's ReadyCONNECT solution is a popular portable emergency response VSAT system that recently proved its worth during the disaster recovery operations following Cyclone Yasi.

ASC will provide high quality, mission-critical satellite communications services to SpeedCast when the latter company operates in remote and challenging locations. SpeedCast's position as the industry leader in the Pacific region will be enhanced by its newest acquisition, allowing SpeedCast to make deeper inroads into important Australian mining and oil & gas markets.

MWEB Business to deliver VSAT service in rural Africa

MWEB Business has launched a powerful internet by satellite service which aims to bring broadband connectivity in rural South Africa, bridging this hard-to-reach locations to the well-connected urban regions. The massive broadband connectivity project will deliver wireless services in far-flung regions which have been cut off from 3G, ADSL, fibre or even fixed-wireless services or are not serviced by electricity.

According to MWEB’s General Manager Andre Joubert, the new VSAT service will deliver Internet to farmers, those involved in mining and construction industries, as well as organizations requiring remote connectivity for business continuity. The MWEB satellite broadband will also provide telephone services aside from the region’s data requirements, and will connect rural offices to headquarters located in cities. MWEB said they’re looking forward to sponsor schools in remote regions looking for satellite connectivity solutions.

The company also explained that the VSAT solution can also work as an alternative to traditional fixed lined Internet access in urban areas. Satellite technology provides blanket coverage and can easily be installed as secondary connectivity. MWEB said that the satellite service will be making use of a teleport facility located in South Africa to minimize latency issues. The satellite broadband technology will offer up to 4Mbps and can be used as basic Internet service or even a complement to existing VPN services.

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Gilat VSAT contact with NBN, Ka-band initiatives boost revenues

Second quarter revenues for Gilat Satcom received a boost from the huge VSAT deployment project on behalf of NBN Co. as well as the Ka-band initiatives implemented last year.

In a conference call last August 17,  CEO Erez Antebi told investors that Gilat's 2011 Ka-band initiatives were now starting to pay off. As a series of high-capacity Ka-band satellites start launching during the late half of 2012 and enter service in 2013, Gilat will have advanced VSAT equipment designed specifically to leverage those new satellites' vast broadband capacity.

Mr. Antebi cited the recently-developed SkyEdge 2-c Aries VSAT, a new consumer terminal designed to support SES broadband satellite Internet service and other services. Connectivity and capacity will be provided by current and future Ka-band satellites.

Gilat is also working on IP tracking,  satellite-on-the-move connectivity, and other Ka-band applications due to the considerable market interest. “With our highly advanced communications equipment and versatile technology enabling multiple applications," Mr. Antebi said, "coupled with our flexibility in meeting both technical and business requirements and our strong pipeline, we believe we are well positioned to take advantage of the Ka-band satellite growth going forward."

Mr. Erez Antebi also used the conference call to report on Gilat's financial results for the second-quarter of 2012. Gilat earned $85.3 million in quarterly revenues, a modest increase compared to last year's second-quarter. The company's commercial division was able to generate a higher level of revenues thanks to its VSAT contract with NBN in Australia.

Gilat has an agreement with Australian operator Optus Networks to provide hubs, VSATs, site installation and network operation for Australia's National Broadcasting Network (NBN) Co. Gilat recently deployed the first 10,000 VSATs ordered and may end up deploying up to 48,000 sites by 2013.

Gilat deploys first 10,000 VSAT systems in Australia for NBN Interim Satellite Service

On August 14, 2012, Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd announced the successful deployment of the first 10,000 SkyEdge II VSAT (Very Small Aperture Terminals) systems in Australia as part of the Interim Satellite Service of NBN Co.

Last May, Optus and Gilat announced that they expect to deploy up to 48,000 Gilat SkyEdge II VSATs over the next three years. Gilat will install and maintain the VSAT CPE; it will also handle end-to-end management and maintenance duties for the NOC (Network Operating Center) and eleven hubs across three earth stations. 

The SkyEdge II network will use IPSTAR’s Ka-band / Ku-band multi-spotbeam capacity and Optus’ Ku-band capacity to bring satellite broadband services anywhere in Australia, including remote regions unreachable by traditional fiber or advanced wireless networks. Australian households, small businesses, indigenous communities, not-for-profit organizations, schools, health clinics, and local council facilities will be able to be benefit from high-speed, high-capacity satellite internet-based services such as VoIP calls and media-rich applications.

Gilat and Optus' current VSAT network project is potentially worth $120 million, depending on the final design and the costs of network implementation.

NewSat Australia attending London VSAT 2012 Conference

The very-small-aperture-terminal (VSAT) industry has had a lot of things to chew on these past few months: A new generation of satellites, bleeding-edge technology that opened up a whole new capacious spectrum for exploitation, bandwidth costs dropping like a rock…

So, in order to gather their bearings about the new direction that the market is taking, key players of the VSAT industry -including independent Australian satellite communications company NewSat- will converge at the Lancaster London Hotel, London from September 11 to 14 for the COMSYS VSAT 2012 Conference

The VSAT 2012 Conference is an annual event that gathers operators and end-users to discuss the environment, challenges, and emerging trends and technologies that are being encountered in their industry.

VSAT industry leaders, organizations, and pivotal players will discuss a wide range of topics that includes market growth, innovation, the huge capacities of the Ka band spectrum, and business strategies to exploit the vastly-increased satellite broadband bandwidth and cheaper OPEX. Attendees will also be presented with tremendous business and network opportunities during the four-day event.

A good number of big names will be attending VSAT 2012. And one of those big names is NewSat Limited. 

The largest independent satellite communications specialist in Australia, NewSat will send representatives to London to discuss their Jabiru Satellite Program. The Australian satcom provider plans to deploy up to five next-generation geostationary Ka-band satellites within the next few years.

The first platform, Jabiru-1, will be launched in 2014. Jabiru-1 will provide Middle East, North Africa, and South East Asia with huge bandwidth capacity, a flexible payload, and a wide array of multi-spot, regional, and steerable beams.

Ka band impacts an ever changing VSAT industry

The rise of a new generation of high-capacity satellites, particularly using the Ka band spectrum, has impacted not only the satellite industry, but the smaller related sectors as well. The VSAT industry is right in the middle of these various changes. The new satellite systems are more powerful indeed, but technology and new building methods have made it less expensive. 

Higher bandwidth capacity no longer means spending millions and millions for the technology. This certainly presents new opportunities to the VSAT market. Soon enough, satellite bandwidth will become a commodity and so it will be up to operators to take advantage of the emerging Ka band technology. 

VSAT operators have to be more open to new business strategies. Since ka band will offer flexible payloads and raw capacity, operators should adjust or even transition to a more specialized, focused solutions-based approach. Now the approaches may vary. An operator can gradually incorporate the new Ka band services, or they can improve upon existing strategies - like customer relationship or managed infrastructure - to complement a sudden to Ka band capacity. 

Whatever the path, however, the ka band technology is inevitably going to be faced. With limited orbital slots and frequencies, satellite systems should now carry higher-capacity to "make room" in the crowded skies. Of course, there is the problem of having too much capacity which an operator may have no use for, but it's also  quite certain that the impact of ka band satellites on the VSAT industry includes new entrepreneurial opportunities.