SES is urging the US Federal Communications Commission to expedite its review of the Luxembourg-based satellite operator’s proposed acquisition of Intelsat, citing “fast-moving industry developments”. It now hopes to close the deal by June 2025.
On 19 December, SES CEO Adel Al-Saleh and company senior vice president, global legal & regulatory affairs Nancy Eskenazi met separately with Commissioner Brendan Carr and other agency staffers to discuss the status of the FCC’s review of both parties’ request to transfer control of licenses held by McLean, Virginia-headquartered Intelsat and its subsidiaries to SES — a proposed transaction which has been pending for eight months.
During this and prior meetings with the FCC, “SES explained that the communications industry is undergoing a period of rapid change and is becoming more competitive than ever due to the entrance of large, well-financed market disrupters and other new players; new technologies increasing spectrum capacity and efficiency; rising customer demand for ubiquitous, global connectivity; and the continued convergence of the communications ecosystem,” SES’s legal counsel wrote in a post-meeting letter to FCC secretary Marlene H. Dortch.
“In light of these developments, SES reemphasized the need to close the proposed transaction by June 2025.”
Though not mentioned specifically, SpaceX’s Starlink service has become a major disruptor in the maritime industry, and has made meaningful gains in aviation, including snagging full-fleet customers United Airlines, Air France and Qatar Airways. Telesat, meanwhile, has fully funded its forthcoming Lightspeed Ka-band Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite network and is eyeing a go-live date in 2027.
In terms of industry convergence, SES’s proposed tie-up with Intelsat comes hard on the heels of Eutelsat’s acquisition of OneWeb and its LEO network, and Viasat’s purchase of Inmarsat, both in 2023. And Viasat is now in advanced talks with Telesat for Lightspeed capacity.
Without FCC intervention to expedite the regulatory process, SES reckons it is on track to close the acquisition of Intelsat in the second half of 2025.
“The transaction including the regulatory process, the regulatory review, is well underway and is on schedule [with what] we predicted with a target close probably in the second half of 2025,” global head of aviation Andrew Ruszkowski told RGN on 25 November as part of a broader interview about SES’s aero-specific work.
The FCC notice period closed with a handful of comments “and we’re going to continue to engage them at the FCC, that is to address their questions,” he added.
The satellite operator also feels confident that the progress made under the Biden Administration will continue under the new Trump Administration. “We’re excited about the acquisition and we feel like we’re making great progress and we see no reason why that wouldn’t continue under the next administration,” said Ruszkowski.
He noted that SES has enjoyed a “great” working relationship with both American political parties over the years.
And, and as an example of that … August or so of this year, the US-Luxembourg global satcom partnership that is based on a NATO framework was completed and SES was the benefactor of that partnership. It was initiated under the Trump Administration, the first Trump administration, and was completed under the Biden Administration. So again, evidence that we work very, very well with both administrations and we expect that we’ll continue to do that in the future.
SES and Intelsat represent a complementary pairing, with both companies pursuing a multi-orbit strategy including for inflight connectivity. In addition to its geostationary (GEO) satellite-focused 2Ku IFC solution, Intelsat is offering a Ku-band hybrid, as powered by its own GEO network and LEO service from partner Eutelsat OneWeb. The kit is already flying on a cluster of Air Canada CRJ900s, Air Canada’s director of in-flight digital entertainment, Wi-Fi, media sales and analytics Norman Haughton has confirmed to RGN.
For its part, SES is a power player on the Ku-band GEO front, feeding capacity to various integrators. When Intelsat’s 33e satellite saw an in-orbit breakup recently, SES was among the operators to provide backup with alternative Ku-band satellites. But SES also stands ready to support the aero market with hybrid Ka-band service inclusive of its Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) and GEO services (the aero ISP work will handled by its partners) as part of a broader Open Orbits ecosystem. Thai Airways International and Turkish Airlines are customers of the latter, with more customer announcements expected shortly.
To support the nextgen MEO faction of this plan, SES’s O3b mPOWER MEO network is in the process of being built out. A week before Christmas, the latest pair of mPOWER satellites were successfully launched into space by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Both satellites, says SES, will join the first six O3b mPOWER MEO spacecraft already in operation, adding incremental capacity to the initial constellation.
The initial satellites have experienced power issues that will reduce their operational life and broadband capacity. But according to SES, the seventh and eighth O3b mPOWER satellites which just launched feature redesigned payload power modules and will bolster SES’s second-generation MEO system to continue delivering “high throughput and predictable” low latency services at scale.
“As we increase the number of satellites in our constellation, we also exponentially increase the capacity and efficiency of our network,” Al-Saleh said in a statement. The remaining five O3b mPOWER satellites are currently being manufactured and are scheduled for launch over the next 18 months.
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