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Ofcom licenses Kuiper, boosts connectivity
UK comms regulator Ofcom has granted an earth station network licence to Amazon Kuiper Services Europe SARL for its ‘Kuiper’ non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) satellite system. This decision means Kuiper will be authorised to provide satellite connectivity services such as high speed, low latency broadband to customers in the UK. Satellite services transmit data to and…
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InterDigital enforces patents against Disney
InterDigital, the mobile, video and AI technology research and development company, has initiated litigation against The Walt Disney Company, including Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+, claiming an ongoing infringement of InterDigital’s intellectual property. “Our video technologies enable Disney to efficiently stream content and enhance the user experience,” said Josh Schmidt, Chief Legal Officer, InterDigital. “We always…
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Outbrain, Teads close merger
Outbrain has announced the closing of its acquisition of Teads, first announced in August 2024, following receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals. The two companies will merge their respective branding and performance offerings to create an omnichannel outcomes platform for the open internet, and will operate under the name Teads. The new Teads will create…
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Ultrafast broadband goes live on Hebridean islands
The Hebridean islands’ first ultrafast broadband connections are now live in a transformative upgrade by Openreach engineers for the Scottish Government’s ‘Reaching 100% (R100)’ programme. For years, connectivity on the islands has been a challenge due to their location and dispersed populations. Now, the first households and businesses on Tiree can access some of the…
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UKTV acquires Side Hustlers from ITV Studios
UKTV has acquired the UK premiere of Side Hustlers, the US business reality series produced by Reese Witherspoon’s production company Hello Sunshine, part of Candle Media, for its free-to-air entertainment channel U&W and streaming service U. UKTV and BBC Studios’ Global Acquisitions Manager, Roxana Rehman, secured the deal, overseen by Melanie Rumani, Global Head of…
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AST SpaceMobile announces FCC grant of STA
AST SpaceMobile has announced that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has granted the company Special Temporary Authority (STA) authorising testing service in the US. This approval enables AST SpaceMobile’s first five commercial BlueBird satellites, operating in low Earth orbit today, with unmodified smartphones in AT&T and Verizon premium low-band wireless spectrum supporting voice, full data,…
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EnSilica awarded £10.3m funding from UK Space Agency Award
EnSilica, a chip maker of mixed signal ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuits), has been awarded £10.38 million (€12.4m) funding over the next three years from the UK Space Agency for a development project under its Connectivity in Low Earth Orbit (C-LEO) programme. EnSilica put forward in its application a business case supported by letters of…
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Vodafone, AST test video call game changer
Last week a Vodafone engineer, Rowan Chesmer, somewhere in the middle of Wales and very much in a dead zone for cellular connectivity, used an AST SpaceMobile satellite to send a video call to Vodafone CEO Margherita Della Valle and British astronaut Tim Peake. The demonstration led to some enthusiastic celebrations from AST themselves and…
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Falklands unhappy over OneWeb
Eutelsat’s share price meltdown continues and not helped by a group of unhappy residents of the UK’s Falkland Islands. Local reports say that the Falkland Islands government “wants its money back” from an agreement which it entered into with local telco SURE and which provides national and international fixed line, mobile data and broadband services…
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South Africa DSO hindered by STB fiasco
South Africa is due to end transmissions of analogue TV signals by March 31st. This much-delayed event looks like it will again be in jeopardy. Local South Africa press is quoting contractors responsible for installing new digital set-top boxes saying that the switch off date is in disarray because of a shortage of boxes and…
