Yousuf Abdulla Al Sayed, CEO, Thuraya Thuraya was founded in the UAE in 1997 by a consortium of leading national telecommunications operators and international investment houses. Giovanni Verlini talks to Yousuf Al Sayed, about Thuraya's plans for Asia.. Click here to view video
	Communications in the broader sense Philippa Smyth, provides an overview of the latest developments in the broadband via satellite sector in the Asia-Pacific region. Click here for the full story

Verso hires new Chief Financial Officer
Verso Technologies a global provider of next generation network solutions, has announced that it has hired Martin D. Kidder as its new chief financial officer, effective November 1, 2006. Kidder brings more than 20 years of financial management experience to the company, with 14 years in executive roles with high growth telecommunications companies, and extensive experience in mergers and acquisitions as well as SEC reporting...

Thuraya officially releases world's smallest satellite phone
Maintaining its leadership in the mobile satellite services industry, Thuraya Satellite Telecommunications Company has officially released its second-generation handheld phones...

SouthernLINC Wireless launches Mobile GPS Navigation with TeleNav GPS Navigator
SouthernLINC Wireless®and TeleNav Inc., the first company to launch GPS navigation on US wireless devices, have announced that SouthernLINC Wireless customers now have access to a GPS navigation system directly on their mobile phones. Just like an in-car navigation system but with more features and automatic mapping updates, TeleNav GPS Navigator offers customers turn-by-turn voice and onscreen directions to addresses across the country...

UDcast marks strong global presence and leadership in mobile TV with presentations in Singapore, China and South Africa
UDcast, a leading provider of solutions enabling full IP over broadcast media, has announced that the company's vice president of marketing, Mr. Filip Gluszak, has been invited to speak at two major pan-Asian events - 3GSM World Congress Asia and the China Mobile TV/Video Forum. Also, UDcast will be represented by its Africa sales manager, Mr. Abel Dumont, at Africa's Next Generation Networks Conference...

Thuraya brings people of Africa closer through low-cost communications
From providing crucial communications support to election officials in the Democratic Republic of Congo to meeting the mobile satellite service needs of the African Union peacekeepers in Sudan’s volatile Darfur region, Thuraya has been playing a major role in changing the way Africans communicate...

Loral to raise US$300M in new equity capital to pursue growth opportunities
Loral Space & Communications has announced that it has entered into an agreement under which affiliates of MHR Fund Management LLC, Loral's largest shareholder, will purchase from Loral $300 million of convertible perpetual preferred stock. Loral plans to use the proceeds from this financing, together with its existing resources, to pursue both internal and external growth opportunities in the satellite communications industry, including strategic transactions or alliances...

Sea Launch prepares for the launch of XM-4
The Sea Launch team is preparing for its fifth mission of 2006, the launch of the XM-4 satellite. The Odyssey Launch Platform and the Sea Launch Commander have departed from Home Port in Long Beach, California, and are on their way to the launch site on the Equator to begin launch operations. Liftoff is planned at the opening of a 58-minute launch window beginning at 4:49pm Pacific Daylight Time (23:49 GMT) on October 26...

Radio Maria awards US$1m satellite radio network expansion contract
International Datacasting Corporation has announced that PROFline B.V., their wholly owned subsidiary and base of operations in Europe, has received a follow-on order from the World Family of Radio Maria, to continue with their major satellite radio network upgrade. This new contract is valued at approximately $1 million (CDN)...

Optus D1 satellite successfully launched
Optus announced that following a spectacular launch display of state-of-the-art rocket technology, the Optus D1 satellite was successfully propelled into orbit...

DIRECTV 9S successfully launched
DIRECTV 9S, a high-power, flexible, hybrid Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS) built by Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) for DIRECTV Inc. (NYSE: DTV), was successfully launched today at 1:56 pm PDT. The satellite was put into geosynchronous transfer orbit aboard an Ariane 5 ECA rocket from Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. Space Systems/Loral is a subsidiary of Loral Space & Communications (NASDAQ: LORL)...

Stellar Introduces Dual-Mode ORBCOMM and GSM product series
Stellar Satellite Communications Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of ORBCOMM Inc., has announced the introduction of the DS300-D and DS400 dual-mode ORBCOMM satellite and GSM communicators. The first to be commercialized is the DS300-D, which features expansion ports that allow the addition of external GSM and Zigbee wireless modules. The DS300-D will be followed shortly by the DS400, which incorporates GSM and Zigbee wireless communication devices and a DS100 satellite subscriber communicator in a single enclosure...

Russia Teleport-Services selects Gilat's SkyEdge Broadband Satellite Network to expand distance-learning network for major university system
Gilat Satellite Networks is supplying a SkyEdge broadband satellite hub station and VSATs to Teleport-Services, a Russian satellite services operator...