A man walking along a cliff feels the ground give way beneath him.  He manages to clutch at a root extending from the face of the cliff, which saves him from falling 1,200 feet onto jagged rocks in the surf below. But as he hangs, on he cannot climb back up.  He shouts, “Is anyone up there!?” 

A voice fills the sky!  “Have faith. If you have faith you can let go and you will fall light as a feather, landing unhurt on the rocks below.”  He looks down at the rocks and crashing surf, thinks about it, looks back up and shouts, “Is there anyone ELSE up there?”

Comtech Telecommunications Corp. (“Comtech”) (NASDAQ:CMTL) announced today that it entered into a new US$ 550.0 million credit facility (the “Credit Facility”) with a syndicate of lenders on October 31, 2018. The Credit Facility consists of a senior secured revolving loan facility with a borrowing limit of US $300.0 million and an accordion feature allowing the Company to borrow up to an additional $250.0 million, plus additional amounts subject to pro forma covenant compliance.

In my previous column I referenced the GVF’s contribution to the forthcoming International Telecommunication Union’s World Radiocommunication Seminar 2018 (WRS2018), December 3rd to 7th, which will take the form of a pre-Seminar Workshop Symposium, November 29th to 30th, focused on capacity building amongst the world’s regulators. A number of organizations will be supporting and contributing to the Workshop Symposium, including (at the time of writing) Hughes and SES, together with other GVF members currently finalizing their inputs.

The annual AfricaCom Awards shortlist was released today. With an overwhelming number of excellent entries, the selection process has been even more challenging than previous years.

The latest program in the GVF-EMP Partnership portfolio, the HTS Roundtable 2018 - GEOs… MEOs… LEOs: Enabling a Brave New World, has been released.

Intelsat S.A. (NYSE: I) today reported total revenue of US$ 536.9 million and net loss attributable to Intelsat S.A. of US$ 374.6 million for the three months ended September 30, 2018.

Telesat Canada today announced its financial results for the three and nine-month periods ended September 30, 2018. For the quarter ended September 30, 2018, Telesat reported consolidated revenues of US$173.37 million (Ca$227 million), an increase of 6% US$9.93 million (Ca$13 million) compared to the same period in 2017.

SES S.A. announced solid financial results for the nine and three months ended September 30,  2018 with group revenue growing, fuelled by strengthening double-digit growth at SES Networks.

Steve Collar, president and CEO, said the company’s focus on execution continues to generate strong financial performance, delivering growth in absolute and underlying revenue, “and we remain on track to deliver on our year-end financial outlook.”

The 21st edition of AfricaCom is shaping up to be an impressive event.  The number of speakers, visitors and exhibitors grow year on year, mirroring the expanding influence that technology, media and telecommunications (TMT) is having on the world at large.

The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] reported third-quarter revenue of US$ 25.1 billion driven by higher defense volume and services growth. GAAP earnings per share increased to US$ 4.07 and core earnings per share increased to US$ 3.58 primarily driven by strong operating performance at Commercial Airplanes and a tax benefit related to a tax settlement. Results also reflect charges related to planned investments in the newly awarded T-X Trainer and MQ-25 programs ($0.93 per share).