Intelsat is a multinational satellite services provider, delivering services to commercial, governmental, and military organizations. Operating one of the world's largest integrated satellite and terrestrial networks, the company offers video broadcasting, broadband connectivity, and secure satellite communications. Intelsat partners with organizations like Vodafone, Gilat Satellite Networks, and SKY Perfect JSAT Corporation, and works with launch providers such as Arianespace and International Launch Services to manage its satellite program from design and construction through launch and in-orbit operations.
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Intelsat and SES expect to receive billions of dollars in incentive payments to clear C-band spectrum by December 2023 and signed manufacturing and launch deals in 2020 to place new capacity in orbit ahead of that deadline.
Arianespace will launch two of Intelsat’s satellites on an Ariane 5 in 2022 and will launch Galaxy-37 on an Ariane 6 in 2023.
Intelsat committed that it will not seek reimbursement for incremental costs associated with any non-C-band payload portions of the replacement satellites.
The reimbursable nature of the C-band replacement satellites led Intelsat and SES to procure 11 of the 13 satellites from U.S. manufacturers.
On 2020-09-04 Viasat requested a rule change to prevent Intelsat from accessing new Ku-band and Ka-band satellite capacity that could allow it to compete in the satellite mobility marketplace.
Intelsat received approval from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia on 2020-08-31 to proceed with buying Gogo’s Commercial Aviation business.
Intelsat will fund the acquisition from its $1,000,000,000 of debtor-in-possession financing.
Gogo provided roughly 260 air-to-ground towers that will be available exclusively to Intelsat for commercial aviation customers for 10 years as part of the acquisition.
On 2020-08-24 Intelsat sought bankruptcy-court approval to make an acquisition intended to help offset declining satellite broadcast revenues.
Intelsat entered a two-week exclusivity period on 2020-08-16 that bars the unnamed company from negotiating competing offers.
Intelsat and SES each expect to spend nearly $1,700,000,000 on their C-band transitions inclusive of satellite manufacturing, launch and insurance, new teleport infrastructure, signal compression technology and other costs.
The $3,300,000,000 to $5,200,000,000 in bidder-covered costs are separate from $9,700,000,000 in accelerated clearing payments available to Intelsat, SES, Eutelsat, Telesat and Claro if they clear spectrum by early December 2023 instead of early December 2025.
Intelsat has ordered six satellites and expects to order a seventh in September at an average manufacturing cost of $112,900,000 per satellite, totaling $790,000,000.
Northrop Grumman's first servicer, MEV-1, docked with an Intelsat satellite in a graveyard orbit a few hundred kilometers above active geostationary satellites.
Northrop Grumman and Intelsat plan to dock MEV-2 with Intelsat 10-02 directly in geostationary orbit in 2021, a maneuver that may require Intelsat 10-02 to pause service for 20 to 30 minutes.
Northrop Grumman has a contract with Intelsat to extend the life of the 16-year-old Intelsat 10-02 communications satellite by five years using the MEV-2 servicer.
Galaxy-30 is a replacement for Intelsat's Galaxy-14 satellite, an 11-year-old satellite from Maxar Technologies that launched on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V in 2009.
Intelsat ordered Galaxy-30 before the Federal Communications Commission had decided to auction 300 megahertz of C-band spectrum and require satellite operators to vacate the spectrum.
Intelsat has ordered six C-band replacement satellites—four from Maxar Technologies and two from Northrop Grumman—and is pursuing $4,870,000,000 in accelerated spectrum clearing payments while negotiating with manufacturers for one more satellite.
On the MEV-1 mission Intelsat moved the target satellite out of GEO into a graveyard orbit several hundred kilometers higher in case the docking created debris or disabled the satellite.