SES-Intelsat Deal Clears Foreign Review
The satellite operators control much of the upper C-band.
WASHINGTON, July 9, 2025 – Federal law enforcement officials have cleared SES’s $3.1 billion purchase of Intelsat, provided regulators impose certain conditions on the deal.
Back in September the Federal Communications Commission, which will need to approve the satellite merger, referred the transaction to a White House committee that advises the agency on foreign ownership issues. Both companies are based in Luxembourg, but Intelsat’s administrative headquarters are in McLean, Va.
The committee, known as Team Telecom, is composed of officials from the Departments of Defense, Justice, and Homeland Security, plus other agencies.
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The conditions these agencies would like to see imposed include notifying them of changes to the merged company’s satellite network, new equipment and service purchases, and new business partners, among other things. The company would also have to produce a variety of physical and cybersecurity plans and undergo compliance audits and at the agencies’ discretion, at most once a year.
“After discussions with representatives of” SES, “the Committee has concluded that the additional commitments set forth in the NSA will help ensure that those agencies with responsibility for enforcing the law, protecting the national security, and preserving public safety can proceed appropriately to satisfy those responsibilities,” the National Telecommunications and Information Administration wrote in a letter posted Monday.
“Accordingly, the Committee advises the [FCC] that it has no objection to the [FCC] granting the above-captioned application, provided that the [FCC] conditions its consent on compliance with” the agreement.
SES and Intelsat operate TV distribution service in what’s called the upper C-band, the 3.98-4.2 GigaHertz portion of the band. They control nearly all of it and were relocated there after the FCC auctioned off part of the band to the wireless carriers.
That auction brought in nearly $81 billion, more than $9.5 billion of which was allocated to SES and Intelsat to compensate for relocation costs and incentivize them to clear the band quickly.
It appears likely a similar situation will play out again. The FCC had been looking into putting the upper C-band to more intensive use, and the recently passed budget reconciliation bill actually requires the agency to sell off at least 100 megahertz of the band.
SES CEO Adel Al-Saleh said on a Feb. 26 earnings call that it should be possible to clear that much while preserving existing content distribution services.
Competing satellite company SpaceX has signalled it also wants a slice of the airwaves, and airlines have urged in-depth studies on the potential for interference with altimeters, which operate just above the band.
The prospect of a single entity owning much of the spectrum they rely on for video distribution has made broadcasters and the cable industry uneasy.
“Given the tens of millions of Americans whose video service depends on C-band operations, the Commission should ensure that the transfer of Intelsat’s licenses to SES will not result in lower quality or capacity for those video services,” NTCA, which represents the cable industry, told the FCC in a filing last year.
European regulators have already approved the deal, with the United Kingdom and European Union giving the green light in recent months.
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