EU clears European satellite giant SES bid for US rival Intelsat

BRUSSELS: The EU on Tuesday cleared European satellite group SES’s $3.1 billion acquisition of US rival Intelsat, a move the company hopes will help it compete in a race for space-based internet services, currently led by Elon Musk’s Starlink.

The European Commission said it approved “unconditionally” the purchase after a probe “concluded that the transaction would not raise competition concerns” in the European Economic Area (EEA).

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“According to the companies, the transaction will allow them to increase coverage and resilience as well as to remain competitive with emerging low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite operators,” the commission, the EU’s antitrust regulator, said.

The EEA includes the 27-country European Union as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.

Meanwhile, the boards of both Intelsat and SES have unanimously approved the merger, which was first announced in April last year. The transaction also needs a green light from US antitrust regulators.

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The Commission’s approval comes as the market for high-speed space connectivity, particularly useful for serving isolated regions, has become ultra-competitive. Satellite operator Eutelsat says the market could be worth $16 billion by 2030.

STARLINK

US tech billionaire Musk’s Starlink says it has placed more than 6,750 operational satellites in low Earth orbit serving over five million customers worldwide – by far the sector’s dominant force.

Project Kuiper, a subsidiary of Amazon, the online retail giant founded by Jeff Bezos, is playing catch-up.

The $10 billion Kuiper initiative plans to deploy 3,200 satellites into low Earth orbit – the region of space up to 1,900 kilometres (1,200 miles) above the planet – with hopes of going live later this year.

SES and Intelsat would have a combined fleet of more than 100 geostationary Earth orbit and 26 medium Earth orbit satellites, according to an SES statement on the proposed merger.