EC Approves SES, Intelsat Merger

The European Commission has unconditionally approved SES's proposed acquisition of Intelsat. The EC concluded that the transaction would not raise competition concerns in the European Economic Area.

Both SES and Intelsat are global satellite network operators that own and operate geostationary Earth orbit satellites. While both companies are headquartered in Luxembourg and are active in the EEA, Intelsat's main activities and administrative headquarters are in the United States. The companies provide ‘one-way' satellite capacity to customers, as well as ‘two-way' satellite capacity. In addition, the companies use capacity from their GEO satellites to provide satellite services of their own.

According to the companies, the transaction will allow them to increase coverage and resilience as well as to remain competitive with emerging low Earth orbit satellite operators. The EC investigated the impact of the transaction in the markets, globally, and in the EEA. It also assessed potential effects arising from the vertical link between the companies' activities in the upstream supply of satellite capacity and the downstream supply of satellite services.

Based on its market investigation, the EC found that there are credible competitors in those markets that, following the transaction, will continue to exert sufficient competitive pressure upon the merged entity. It also found that the merged entity will be constrained by terrestrial alternatives such as fiber in the market for the supply of ‘one-way' satellite capacity and by LEO operators in the market for the supply of ‘two-way' satellite capacity. The EC considers that the merged entity would not have the ability to foreclose downstream competitors by restricting access to its satellite capacity.