The Industry Begins to Feel the Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Welcome to the June edition of Via Satellite. We are living in difficult times as the coronavirus continues to claim thousands of lives around the world. I will start by wishing our community, their families, loved ones, colleagues and friends all the best as we navigate this treacherous period in history together.

In this edition, we examine the impacts of the pandemic across our industry. From major operators, to antenna providers, to startups, we look at how companies are trying to maintain strong revenue flows and satisfy customer. As our community becomes more dispersed, we talk about how satellite companies continue to serve the global population in these challenging times.

It has been a period of momentous news for our industry, and most of it is not good news. Following OneWeb’s dramatic descent into bankruptcy, we have also seen Speedcast, Phasor and Intelsat enter into bankruptcy or administration. Since the May edition, we put together a special edition on OneWeb with many exclusive interviews, including Greg Wyler, and it is well worth checking out.

While some of these companies will hopefully bounce back, the space industry is entering an uncertain time, and there could well be further casualties, both in terms of established companies and new startups. But we also know that there is a great deal of resilience in this industry, and the importance of connectivity and communication has never been as strong as it is now.

Via Satellite will continue to serve the community and find ways to inform, educate, and entertain. We have started a new video series called Thursday Morning Conversations, where we have some more informal conversations with well-known faces in the industry. So far Steve Collar, Tom Choi, Stephane Israel, Suzi McBride, and Bob Gourley have taken part. Also, check out our On Orbit podcast, which also provides lively conversation and a different way to digest our expanding portfolio of content.

I will end as I began by wishing everyone the best from Via Satellite in these difficult times and we continue to work with you as we all try to drive this industry forward.