{"id":169447,"date":"2025-06-09T05:26:10","date_gmt":"2025-06-09T05:26:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/169447\/"},"modified":"2025-06-09T05:26:10","modified_gmt":"2025-06-09T05:26:10","slug":"ses-takeover-of-intelsat-is-set-to-be-approved-by-the-european-union","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/169447\/","title":{"rendered":"SES Takeover Of Intelsat Is Set To Be Approved By The European Union"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Mergers-and-Acquisitions-Sq-300x300-1.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3792\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>The European Commission is expected to grant unconditional approval to SES\u2019s over $2.9 billion acquisition of satellite operator Intelsat, reinforcing the EU\u2019s drive to enhance strategic autonomy in SES\u2019s satellite communications.<\/p>\n<p>Following clearance by the UK\u2019s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) last week, Brussels is reportedly preparing to give its assent, according to the UK\u2019s SES cited by Reuters. The merger, announced in April 2024, would create a significant player in global satellite services.<\/p>\n<p>However, while some view the combined SES-Intelsat entity as a potential rival to SpaceX\u2019s Starlink, the comparison has limits. Starlink operates in low Earth orbit (LEO), offering low-latency broadband SpaceX activity. SES and Intelsat, by contrast, primarily utilise geostationary and medium Earth orbits (GEO and MEO), which support broader coverage but with higher latency.<\/p>\n<p>Although SES and Intelsat currently lack LEO infrastructure, they have made strategic moves to close the gap. Intelsat invested $500 million in Eutelsat to access the OneWeb LEO constellation, which comprises 648 satellites\u2014second only to Starlink in scale. SES is also involved in the EU-backed IRIS\u00b2 programme, which will deploy 290 satellites across multiple orbits, including LEO.<\/p>\n<p>While the SES-Intelsat merger may not directly mirror Starlink\u2019s capabilities, it strengthens Europe\u2019s capacity to deliver satellite services on a global scale and reduces reliStarlink\u2019sreign systems. Concerns have been raised about Europe\u2019s dependence on Starlink, particularly given the unpredictable leadership of both SpaceX and its owner, Elon Musk.<\/p>\n<p>Europe\u2019s expected approval may also signal a shift in attitude toward market consolidation, encouraging other operatorsCommission\u2019s regulatory reforms in support of scale and global competitiveness.<\/p>\n<p>In a recent Financial Times interview, FCC commissioner Brendan Carr suggested Europe must choose between American and Chinese influence. This anticipated merger indicates that the EU may be choosing to back its own.<\/p>\n<p>The Commission\u2019s final decision is due next week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The European Commission is expected to grant unconditional approval to SES\u2019s over $2.9 billion acquisition of satellite operator&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":169448,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5174],"tags":[2000,299,5187,1699,34962,6316,3461,34963,1603,70738],"class_list":{"0":"post-169447","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-eu","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-european","11":"tag-european-union","12":"tag-intelsat","13":"tag-mergers-and-acquisitions","14":"tag-satellite-internet","15":"tag-ses","16":"tag-spacex","17":"tag-startlink"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114651751071846401","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=169447"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169447\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/169448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=169447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=169447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=169447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}