SatNews

Satellite Industry Intelligence Since 1983

ORBITZ — Alcatel-Lucent — Dell’Oro Group — RSCC — TIA — Telenor + Datametrix —

  • Alcatel-Lucent will be working with SpeedCast Limited to jointly market, deploy, and operate a shared, hosted DVB-H platform for Asian-based mobile TV operators. This hosted service will enable mobile TV service providers to deliver more than 20 TV channels via satellite (in the Ku- or C-band) to their transmission towers for terrestrial broadcast (in the UHF band) to DVB-H for handheld devices.

  • Dell’Oro Group has reported the worldwide STB market contracted 6 percent sequentially to $3.5 billion during Q1 of this year. The market was up 9 percent, however, compared to the year-ago quarter. The quarter’s sequential decline was due to double-digit percent drop in the satellite STB market, which reflected seasonal weakness. Greg Collins, Vice President at Dell’Oro Group, commented, “Prices continue to rise as HD and DVR functionality becomes a higher percentage of the overall product mix. In 1Q08, HD shipments for the first time surpassed SD shipments as consumers are increasingly choosing HD services and service providers are deploying HD capable set-tops ahead of demand.” Echostar, which was recently spun off from Dish Network, edged out Thomson in the first quarter for the top position in terms of unit shipments More info here…—Redwood City, California

  • Moving On Up… At RSCC… is Ksenia Y. Drozdova. She has been appointed to the position of RSCC General Director Deputy, the head of business development activities. She will be in charge of RSCC marketing and sales. Mrs. Drozdova was born in Moscow. In 1994, she graduated from the Moscow State Academy of Printing Arts. In 1996, Ms. Drozdova was granted an MBA diploma of Kennedy-Western University (USA) with a major in Finances. From 1994 to 1995, she worked as a senior expert at the advanced investigations department for the Stolichny Bank (Russia). From 1995 to 1998, she was a chief expert, a line director and a chief deputy of the strategic analysis and marketing department at the MAPO Aircraft Military and Industrial Complex, the main activity of which is producing and delivering MiG-29 military jets. Since 1998, she has been working for RSCC and has dealt with corporate financing, then held the position of the head of marketing department. Since 2005, Ms. Drozdova has been the Deputy Director of Business Development—Moscow, Russia

  • The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) applauds the passage of a key communications modernization bill by the U.S. House of Representatives, H.R. 3403, the “New and Emerging Technologies 911 Improvement Act of 2008.” The bill was passed by the Senate last week. The bill is sponsored by Rep. Bart Gordon (D-Tenn.) and the Senate version, S. 428, sponsored by Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), is a significant step toward making America’s IP-based services first-responder friendly.

  • Telenor has entered into an agreement with the Ignis ASA group, including the Smartnet AS subsidiary, to buy Datametrix AS. The acquisition will help to strengthen Telenor‘s expertise in advanced IP-based communication solutions to the business market and public sector. Datametrix is one of the leading companies in this field in Norway, with solid experience from a range of innovative and future-oriented technology projects for large and medium-sized customers. In 2007 the company had 136 employees and a turnover of approximately NOK 400 million, with an EBITDA margin of around 5 per cent. Telenor is paying NOK 226 million (enterprise value) for Datametrix. The transaction will be completed following approval by the Norwegian Competition Authority.