European Commission gives green light to SES’s acquisition of Intelsat without conditions

The European Commission has approved unconditionally, under the EU Merger Regulation, the proposed acquisition of Intelsat Holdings S.à r.l. (‘Intelsat’) by SES S.A. (‘SES’). The Commission concluded that the transaction would not raise competition concerns in the European Economic Area (‘EEA’).

 

Both SES and Intelsat are global satellite network operators that own and operate geostationary Earth orbit (‘GEO’) 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, notably broadcasters, in the media sector, as well as ‘two-way’ satellite capacity to, amongst others, third-party satellite service providers across a range of other industry sectors (e.g., aviation, maritime and government). 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 (‘LEO’) satellite operators.

 

The Commission’s investigation

The Commission investigated the impact of the transaction in the markets for the supply of ‘one-way’ and ‘two-way’ satellite capacity and possible smaller market segments therein, globally and in the EEA (including regions within the EEA for ‘one-way’ satellite capacity for media broadcast). 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 Commission found that there are credible competitors on 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 fibre 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. In addition, based on the results of the market investigation, the Commission considers that the merged entity would not have the ability to foreclose downstream competitors by restricting access to its satellite capacity.

The Commission therefore concluded that the proposed acquisition would not raise competition concerns in the EEA and cleared the transaction unconditionally.

Companies and products

SES is a publicly listed company headquartered in Luxembourg, which owns and operates GEO satellites, as well as a fleet of medium Earth orbit (‘MEO’) satellites. In addition, SES offers satellite services for a range of use cases.

Intelsat is a company headquartered in Luxembourg (with administrative headquarters in the United States), which owns and operates a fleet of GEO satellites. Intelsat also provides satellite services for various use cases.

 

Merger control rules and procedure

The transaction was notified to the Commission on 29 April 2025.

The Commission has the duty to assess mergers and acquisitions involving companies with a turnover above certain thresholds (see Article 1 of the EU Merger Regulation) and to prevent concentrations that would significantly impede effective competition in the European Economic Area or any substantial part of it.

The vast majority of notified mergers do not pose competition problems and are cleared after a routine review. From the moment a transaction is notified, the Commission generally has 25 working days to decide whether to grant approval (Phase I) or to start an in-depth investigation (Phase II).

More information will be available on the Commission’s competition website, in the public case register under the case number M.11602.

 

More information: European Commission.