The European Union has “unconditionally” approved the SES purchase of Intelsat (for €3.1 billion plus debt) and joins the UK’s decision to permit the acquisition to go through. Approvals from the U.S., including permissions to reassign Intelsat’s frequency licences to SES, are still outstanding.
“The Commission concluded that the transaction would not raise competition concerns in the European Economic Area,” EU’s executive arm said in a statement.
The combined businesses would be—by far—the world’s most powerful and comprehensive satellite operator, and provide the scale to compete with Starlink and the upcoming Project Kuiper broadband systems.
The UK’s Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) approved the deal in May, emphasizing the in-flight competition, saying: “The CMA found that the Merged Entity would face significant competitive pressure in the supply of broadband IFC services to commercial airlines, including from vertically integrated companies such as Starlink and Viasat Inmarsat,” the British regulator said.
