Week in Space Data, every Friday.
SES announced its acquisition of Intelsat on April 30, 2024 and completed it on July 17, 2025; Intelsat is now part of SES. This page sets out each company's profile before the deal and what the combination looks like now, with sources.
| Metric | SES | Intelsat |
|---|---|---|
| Founded | 1985 (formed on the initiative of the Luxembourg government) | 1964 (as an intergovernmental consortium); privatized in 2001 |
| Headquarters | Betzdorf, Luxembourg | McLean, VA (before the SES acquisition) |
| Ownership | Public: Euronext Paris and Luxembourg Stock Exchange (SESG) | Filed Chapter 11 in May 2020; emerged Feb 23, 2022 as a private company, with debt cut from about $16B to $7B; owned by SES since July 17, 2025 |
| Revenue | €2,001M (2024); €2,627M (2025, with Intelsat consolidated from July 17, 2025) | Reported inside SES from July 17, 2025; combined like-for-like 2025 revenue €3,512M (down 1.6% at constant FX) |
| Business Lines (2025 revenue) | Networks €1,633M (Government, Aviation, Fixed & Maritime); Media €977M | (see SES) |
| Fleet | Around 120 satellites in GEO and MEO, including the former Intelsat fleet (Oct 2026) | (see SES) |
| MEO Constellation | O3b mPOWER: 13 satellites; the last three launched Sep 13, 2026, with service expected by mid-2027 | (see SES) |
| C-Band Clearing (FCC) | $1B Phase I plus $2.99B Phase II (2023) accelerated relocation payments, before tax | About $3.67B in Phase II accelerated relocation payments (2023) |
| U.S. Government Business | SES Space & Defense (Reston, Va.; renamed from SES Government Solutions in Dec 2022) | (see SES) |
| The Deal | Announced Apr 30, 2024; completed July 17, 2025 | $3.1B headline value for 100% of the equity ($2.6B in cash plus contingent value rights), implying a $5.0B enterprise value |
| Expected Synergies | €370M annual run rate (€2.4B net present value), about 70% within 3 years of closing | (see SES) |
Both SES and Intelsat were paid under the FCC's C-band transition, which moved satellite services out of part of the U.S. C-band so it could be used for 5G. SES received a $1 billion Phase I accelerated relocation payment and, after completing Phase II in 2023, became eligible for a further $2.99 billion (before tax). Intelsat said in August 2023 that it expected accelerated relocation payments totaling $3.67 billion after completing its clearing. Intelsat had entered Chapter 11 in May 2020 and emerged on February 23, 2022 as a private company, with its debt cut from about $16 billion to $7 billion.
SES also runs O3b mPOWER, a 13-satellite medium Earth orbit (MEO) constellation built by Boeing. Satellites 9 and 10 launched on July 22, 2025, and the final three launched on September 13, 2026, with service from those three expected by mid-2027 after orbit raising and testing. SES describes the system as offering 150 milliseconds of predictable latency across large regions.
SES announced on April 30, 2024 that it would buy 100% of Intelsat's equity for a headline $3.1 billion ($2.6 billion in cash plus contingent value rights), implying an enterprise value of $5.0 billion. The deal completed on July 17, 2025. At completion, SES gave the combined company 120 satellites across GEO and MEO, pro forma combined revenue of €3.7 billion and a contract backlog above €8 billion.
SES expects synergies with a net present value of €2.4 billion, an annual run rate of about €370 million, with roughly 70% delivered within three years of closing. In its first results with Intelsat (March 2026), SES reported 2025 revenue of €2,627 million on a reported basis; on a like-for-like basis, as if Intelsat had been part of SES from January 2024, combined revenue was €3,512 million, down 1.6% at constant exchange rates.
The combined SES competes with low Earth orbit broadband. SpaceX reported 12.0 million Starlink subscribers at June 30, 2026, double the 6.0 million a year earlier, and a median Starlink latency of about 25 milliseconds as of March 31, 2026; its prospectus names SES among the geostationary operators it competes with. SES's answer is a multi-orbit network: its geostationary fleet together with O3b mPOWER in MEO.
Track satellite operators and spectrum allocations on SpaceNexus