Intelsat Signs New Major Boeing Deal, Releases First Quarter Results
By Steve Schuster | May 10, 2013
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The 702MPs will deliver high-capacity data transmission tailored to Intelsat customer needs.
Image credit: Boeing
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[Satellite TODAY 05-10-13] Intelsat announced Thursday it would be purchasing four new high-performance EpicNG 702 MP satellites from Boeing allowing the company to benefit from Boeing’s “exclusive technology,” David McGlade, Intelsat’s chairman and CEO said during a conference call with investors. Intelsat has now ordered a total of eight satellites from Boeing as part of its EpicNG program.
“This technology provides differentiation of our services to the applications we serve and, more importantly, meaningful benefits for our customers,” McGlade said.
But the main purpose of Thursday’s Intelsat conference call was to discuss the company’s fiscal health during the first quarter of 2013. McGlade said that despite the U.S. Government’s budget sequestration, Intelsat reported a two percent revenue increase in 2013’s first quarter. He said he remains optimistic that Intelsat’s business will remain fiscally healthy despite tough economic conditions.
“With careful management of operating expenses, we will be disciplined in managing through any short-term disruptions that could result from sequestration,“ McGlade said.
The company also reported that for the first quarter of 2013, Intelsat’s On-Network revenue saw a 4 percent increase.
“Within on-network revenue, transponder services increased $22 million or 5 percent to $502 million,” McGlade said.
Michael McDonnell, Intelsat’s chief financial officer cited global revenue sources spanning from the Americas to India and Africa as a part of the company’s growth. The boon “also reflects revenue for mobility and broadband infrastructure in our network services customer set,” McDonnell added.
Intelsat’s media division also saw aggressive growth over the past 18 months, company officials said.
“Our media business continued to post strong growth,” McGlade said. “This performance reflects strong demand for the refreshed capacity in our media neighborhoods and expansion of several DTH platforms,” McGlade said noting that “Intelsat is positioned to benefit from the rapidly expanding global consumption of content and data.”
However, while revenue’s saw a healthy increase, first quarter 2013 earnings were down 0.09 cents per share reflecting a net loss of $7.8 million with total revenue coming in at $655.1 million during 2013’s first quarter.
New customer and renewal activity has remained steady.
According to a May 9 financial earnings report, the company had several recent windfalls including the launch of an IPO and the renewal of a United Nations contract for transponder services.
“One of our largest private network customers, the United Nations, signed a multi-year renewal. It uses capacity on three satellites and our IntelsatONE hybrid infrastructure to operate a secure global network that supports peacekeeping operations around the world,” McGlade said.
Intelsat’s IPO has also been a major event for the company this year. Announced in April, company officials indicated the IPO has already had a positive impact.
“We received $550 million in net IPO proceeds in April, which we will use to pay down $492 million of debt,” McDonnell said.