Dramatic Week for SES is Talk of the Industry

As I write this ed note, it has been a fairly dramatic time in the satellite industry for SES. At the time of writing, we have seen the news of that Steve Collar, SES’s CEO, and one of the most recognizable faces in the industry, will be leaving SES at the end of June and then following that surprise announcement, we had another announcement that any potential SES/Intelsat merger is now off after detailed discussions did not lead to an agreement.

There is a lot to digest here. Firstly, the talk of SES and Intelsat merger has been in the background for the last few months. It felt at some points that a merger was only a matter of time, and would follow other big pieces of consolidation we have seen recently (Viasat/Inmarsat, Eutelsat/OneWeb) as we head into a new era of global players and operators.

A lot of questions have been asked about the futures of the likes of SES, Intelsat, and Telesat. I don’t think we have seen the last of the consolidation by any means. For SES, it is now looking for a new CEO. Will it go outside of the industry? What will their strategy be once appointed? For example, it didn’t take long for Eva Berneke to pull the trigger on the OneWeb deal once she was appointed CEO of Eutelsat. For Intelsat, the main questions center around its multi-orbit strategy. While it has some partnerships in this area, will this be enough to sustain it and grow the company going forward? It still has a very enviable collection of GEO assets and remains one of the top players in the industry. However, since the deal with PanAmSat — which seems like from a different era now — the company hasn’t really made what you would call a significant acquisition/move in terms of buying significant orbital assets. With talks with SES now over, what is next for David Wajsgras and his management team?

Both SES and Intelsat have been synonymous with our industry for many, many decades. Their stories, their histories are some of the most storied and fascinating in our space. It is clear that both are at inflection points. Wajsgras has been Intelsat’s CEO for just over a year. SES will now appoint a new CEO. It will be interesting to see where this all leads for these two companies going forward.