Satellite giant Intelsat, in the process of being bought by SES, has reported declining revenues across many of its key divisions. Its ‘Transponder Revenues’ vertical, which accounts for video services tumbled 10 per cent, while its In-Flight services division fell back 9 per cent (although 6 per cent when equipment sales were included).
Intelsat stated in its Annual Report for 2024 that its Media business has been impacted by lower transponder lease rentals and “fewer renewals in the limited and highly coveted upper-frequency C-band capacity”.
The In-Flight services fall was not helped by losing Delta Air Lines switching from Intelsat to Hughes Network Systems (an EchoStar subsidiary) and to SpaceX’s Starlink satellite system. A year ago the same division reported growth of 17 per cent.
SES, talking back in February, implied it was aware of the situation at Intelsat but was still happy to proceed with its acquisition of Intelsat.
Also impacting the numbers was the loss on Intelsat IS-33 which failed in October 2024 which cost Intelsat $97 million in the value of the craft and a further $3.9 million in finding alternate capacity for its clients on the satellite. In February this year there were problems on its IS-30 craft and working at 95 degree West, but which has reportedly not impacted the satellites functionality.
Intelsat says it has a business backlog of $4.2 billion.
