Germany has already made it known that it believes the EU-backed IRIS2 mega-constellation of super-secure satellites is too expensive. Now it seems that Italy is also having thoughts about its own satellite fleet. A report in German newspaper Handelsblatt suggests that the German army (Bundeswehr) is backing an alternate orbiting satellite system, and may not […]

SES CEO Adel Al-Saleh, in an interview, has said that despite the recent examples of acquisitions it must move even faster. SES is awaiting regulatory approvals for its purchase of rival Intelsat, and has recently made an investment in Lynk Global which is building a low Earth orbiting fleet of satellites for Direct-to-Consumer (D2C) connections. […]

Declan Ganley, CEO at Rivada Space Networks, told delegates at the recent Satellite 2025 show in Washinton, that in his view the European IRIS2 scheme to build a super-secure satellite constellation is – in effect – “dead in the water”. Ganley was speaking on an expert panel which included Eutelsat’s CEO Eva Berneke. Ganley praised […]

Within minutes of Eutelsat releasing its half-yearly results on February 14th a major sell-off by shareholders occurred, and drove Eutelsat’s share price down to another ‘all time low’ of just €1.39 a share, and a 11.4 per cent fall on the day. A week earlier they were trading at about €1.80. A month ago, they […]

LuxConnect, based in Bettembourg, Luxembourg, has been awarded one of the IRIS² control centres. IRIS2 is Europe’s mega-constellation of satellites and designed to provide ultra-secure communications for government and military purposes. It is managed by three leading European satellite network operators: SES from Luxembourg, Eutelsat from France, and the Spanish Hispasat. IRIS² control centres are […]

The upcoming European IRIS2 mega-constellation will have its master network control hub in Cologne, Germany according to a report by Heise. Some observers had expected Eutelsat’s OneWeb control centre, based in London, to provide security given that OneWeb is a major part of the IRIS2 system. The report, not confirmed by the consortium managing the […]

IRIS2 is Europe’s massive project to provide a highly-secure multi-orbit satellite constellation which will also compete with Elon Musk’s Starlink and provide safe and secure communications for Europe’s nations and military. The IRIS2 project has been described as ‘Starlink’s big sister’ and a true mega-constellation. But it has a very tight set of deadlines. The […]

For the past few years satellite operator has kept a very trimmed Dividend for shareholders of an annual €0.50 per annum, for each ‘A’ share held by shareholders. This past year this has been split into two separate €0.25 payments made in October 2014 and with the next due in April 2025. However, this low […]

The IRIS2 project for hundreds of satellites was confirmed December 16th with the signing of contracts worth €10.6 billion with the SpaceRISE consortium. The consortium, led by satellite operators SES, Eutelsat and Hispasat, is now contracted to build – via sub-contractors – and operate the new highly-secure fleet of satellites. The contract covers a 12-year […]

The European Commission and European Space Agency (ESA) are hosting a series of events in Brussels on December 16th connected with the IRIS2 satellite scheme. First there will be technical briefing with senior EC experts and Josef Aschbacher, ESA Director General, as well as Laurent Jaffart, ESA Director of Connectivity and Secure Communications. IRIS² is […]