31 December 2000

Satcoms

Argentina Considers Auctioning Satellite Phone Rights
The Argentine government has been consulting with businesses to see what interest there is in bidding for satellite-based mobile telephone licensing rights when an auction is held.

The auction will be held in March or April, allowing services to be available from 2003. The government expects to raise US$ 250 million from the auction.

The satellite will operate at L band and could serve all of the Americas.

Two potential bidders, Tuyusat (USA) and Telesat (Canada) are reported to have expressed an interest.

SSET Ships iP3 Internet Gateways to Europe
SSE Telecom Inc has shipped a number of iP3 Gateways ordered by a service provider in Europe for two-way Internet Protocol (IP) communications within a private network in Europe.

Voice, fax, video and large data file traffic will be transmitted as IP packets through the iP3 Gateway via a Ku band satellite transponder.

The customer, who has asked to be unnamed at this time, selected the iP3 Gateway due to its high bandwidth, efficient TCP/IP software solution and flexible full-mesh capability.

The iP3 platform features industry-leading transmission rates greater than 2 Mb/s between users, within a distributed system that does not require an expensive inefficient Hub as used by some Demand Assigned Multiple Access (DAMA) systems or TDMA star networks.

Manned Space

Contact With Mir Lost, Then Restored . . .
Mir's Mission Control centre, located close to Moscow, was out of contact with the ageing space station for twenty hours following a link failure on Monday. Since restoring communications the link has failed again.

Media around the world reacted with horror and a total disregard for orbital mechanics and began behaving as though the 130 tonne space station was in imminent danger of falling out of the sky, wiping out cities as it fell.

Mir, though not able to communicate with its control centre, continued to orbit the Earth as though nothing had happened.

The space station's orbit is decaying and, without human intervention, the spacecraft will probably re-enter the Earth's atmosphere in late March. The Russian government has decided to pre-empt this and has opted for a controlled re-entry over the Pacific Ocean in late February.

Contact was lost on Monday evening and finally restored of Tuesday evening. Communications were lost because the station's batteries discharged almost completely. The reason for this discharge is not yet known.

Even if there is a permanent loss in communications with Mir an uncontrolled re-entry can be avoided. In the event of such a serious problem an emergency crew will be launched to the station to prepare it for re-entry.

Launches

Tsyklon

A Tsiklon-3 rocket launched from the Plesetsk Space Centre in northern Russia on Wednesday failed to put the six satellites it was carrying into orbit after developing a problem in its third stage. Initial indications are that 367 seconds after lift off the onboard computer instructed the third stage engines the shut off.

The Tsiklon-3 is a three stage launcher is manufactured in the Ukraine by NPO Yuzhnoye.

Three of the satellites were being launched for the Defence Ministry and three were owned by Rosaviakosmos, Russia's space and aviation authority. All six satellites were based on the Strela-3 design.

The satellites are thought to have burnt up during re-entry over the East Siberian Sea.

Business

BFGoodrich Completes Acquisition of Raytheon Optical Systems
The BFGoodrich Company has completed the acquisition of Raytheon's electro- optical systems unit. The companies first announced the acquisition on November 15, 2000.

The business being acquired develops and manufactures advanced products and technologies used in space transport and payload applications, including systems used on the Hubble Telescope Satellite and Chandra X-Ray Observatory.

The transaction positions BFGoodrich to become a leading supplier of satellite attitude determination and on-orbit control systems (ADOCS). In addition to being a world leader in precision optical sensors and advanced large optical systems, the Raytheon unit, which had revenues of US$ 152 million in 1999, also makes laser warning systems and visual surveillance systems for day and night use.

Fantastic Restructures
The Fantastic Corporation has announced a major restructuring. As part of the restructuring Fantastic will reduce its headcount by approximately 30 percent and consolidate several offices leading to an annual reduction in operating costs of US$ 9.0 million.

The company aims to expand its market reach through a major shift in sales strategy to focus on in-direct channels and adding reseller agreements with top-tier multimedia service providers and business innovators. Earlier this month, Fantastic announced a reseller agreement with IBM.

Fantastic also announced that it does not expect to meet its previously stated revenue goal of US$ 35.0 million for fiscal year 2000 ending December 31.

As a result of the restructuring, the current Fantastic workforce of 356 employees will be reduced by approximately 30%. With associated reductions in space costs and other expenses, Fantastic's net operating cash burn rate on an ongoing basis will be reduced from U$ 11.0 million per quarter to US$ 9.0 million per quarter. The total restructuring charge this year will be in the range of US$ 18.5 million, of which US$ 13.0 million will not impact cash. The restructuring and all related charges are expected to be completed by June 30, 2001.

Sattel Changes Corporate Structure
Sattel Global Networks Inc (Colorado), has entered into a new definitive agreement whereby its operations will be consolidated with the operations of Sattel Global Networks Inc (Delaware), a manufacturer of satellite systems for public switched telephone and data networks, and Sattel de Guatemala SA, (Guatemala) an operator of rural satellite networks in Central America.

This agreement replaces an earlier merger agreement entered into between Sattel Global Networks, Colorado and several other parties. The Company has directed its transfer agent to place a "stop transfer" on approximately 6.25 million of the Company's common shares that were previously issued to E-Commerce Investments Inc, formerly known as The President's Corporate Group Inc pursuant to the reorganisation agreement.

The Company has also announced the following changes in its Directors and Officers: Mr. Wayne K Goettsche has resigned as a Director and Chairman, and Mr George Weischadle has assumed the role of Chairman. Mr Darrel Cho has been replaced by Ms Jill Luna as Secretary. Mr Rick Muller has been named a Director.

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