Orbitcom and SES expanded a partnership to include the delivery of a satellite broadband service in Germany. Astra Connect “uses a single antenna to provide an entire community with a satellite broadband connection, which is then distributed via a local network infrastructure,” SES said Thursday in a news release (http://bit.ly/1uKgpWH). Users served by the networks will be able to browse the different packages offered online “and then place orders through a dedicated website and webshop set up by Orbitcom,” it said. The ISP also will be responsible for the delivery of the equipment and customer support, SES said.

Iridium said it will provide global emergency tracking technology to the aviation community for free. Through its subsidiary Aireon, Iridium will offer the Aireon aircraft locating and emergency response tracking (ALERT) service, letting rescue agencies request the location and last flight track of aircraft flying in airspace currently without surveillance, Aireon said in a news release Sunday (http://bit.ly/1mCF9RX). The service will work with aircraft equipped with 1090 MHz automatic dependent surveillance broadcast (ADS-B) receivers, it said. ALERT will be available after the Aireon air traffic monitoring system is fully deployed, it said. Iridium plans to launch the first payloads in that system next year (CD Feb 19 p10).

Gogo partnered with Virgin Atlantic to offer in-flight connectivity services on Virgin Atlantic’s aircraft. The companies expect Gogo’s global connectivity solution, 2Ku, to deliver “unprecedented bandwidth to the aircraft,” Gogo said Wednesday in a news release (http://bit.ly/1wEfImo). The companies agreed on principal terms and are working to finalize a definitive agreement, Gogo said. All of Virgin Atlantic’s aircraft “will be retrofitted with Gogo’s 2Ku solution,” it said.

Inmarsat launched IsatHub, a global connectivity service for smartphones and tablets. It offers standard IP data up to 240/384 kbps, Inmarsat said Tuesday in a news release (http://bit.ly/1u37LlM). The service lets users surf the Internet, access apps and text, and use other functions “when they are hundreds of miles outside a terrestrial fixed or mobile network,” Inmarsat said. IsatHub is accessed using Inmarsat’s small Wideye iSavi terminal, it said.

Orbcomm launched commercial service for its first six next-generation OG2 satellites. The satellites are processing more than 20 percent of the network’s machine-to-machine traffic, Orbcomm said Monday in a news release (http://bit.ly/1qWQOd1). Orbcomm is now collecting more than 13 million Automatic Identification System messages “from more than 130,000 unique vessels per day,” it said. The satellites are fully backwards compatible with Orbcomm’s existing OG1 network, it said.

DirecTV seems confident it will announce a renewal of the NFL Sunday Ticket package of football games in 2014, a year when overall programming costs are coming in lower than expected, said an analyst who heard CEO Mike White speak at an investor conference Friday. Both sides had no immediate comment. Lower-than-expected programming costs are primarily due to the DBS provider not carrying some sports networks like that of the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the timing of contracts, wrote Wells Fargo’s Marci Ryvicker in an email to investors. But DirecTV programming costs will grow by a double-digit percentage in 2015, Ryvicker said. Renewing the Sunday Ticket deal is “important” to completing AT&T’s plan to buy DirecTV, she said. Under their agreement, AT&T can walk away from the deal if DirecTV’s NFL Sunday Ticket package isn’t renewed “substantially on the terms discussed between the parties,” AT&T has said in SEC filings (CD May 20 p1). DirecTV will be starting an Hispanic package this year, Ryvicker also said. DirecTV expects AT&T to buy it in late Q1 or early Q2, she said. The FCC Media Bureau last week asked the companies for information on the deal, which is worth about $67 billion (CD Sept 11 p21).

Gogo entered a partnership with T-Mobile to deliver free in-flight texting and voicemail to their customers on all Gogo-equipped U.S. airline aircraft. T-Mobile customers can use the new service on more than 2,000 commercial U.S. airlines beginning Sept. 17, Gogo said Thursday in a news release (http://bit.ly/1CWKEQj). To access the free messaging and voicemail services, T-Mobile customers “will need to have their Wi-Fi calling-enabled phone in airplane mode and connected to Gogo Wi-Fi,” it said. A list of compatible smartphones is at www.t-mobile.com/gogo, it said.

Hughes Network Systems will make its latest portable broadband global area network (BGAN) terminal available in November. The Hughes 9211-HDR (high data rate) is designed to operate with Inmarsat’s BGAN HDR service, Hughes said Tuesday in a news release (http://bit.ly/1trZ3xj). It has features like a built-in RJ11, multi-user Wi-Fi access and advanced automatic context activation, it said.

Space Systems Loral will provide a communications satellite for Bulgaria Sat. The satellite will provide direct-to-home TV service in the Balkan region, SSL said Monday in a news release (http://bit.ly/YqRFt0). The BulgariaSat-1 will have two Ku-band fixed satellite service transponders and 30 Ku-band broadcasting satellite service transponders for FSS and advanced TV services like HDTV, SSL said.

Arianespace will launch the Hylas 4 satellite and the Koreasat 7 satellite. Avanti’s Hylas 4 is scheduled to launch in 2017, and KTsat’s Koreasat 7 in 2016, Arianespace said Monday in news releases (http://bit.ly/1lR09UP; http://bit.ly/WypW81). Hylas 4 will provide direct TV broadcast and data transmission services to Africa, Latin America and Europe, it said. Koreasat 7’s coverage zone will include Korea, the Philippines, Indonesia and India, it said.