[Satellite TODAY Insider 03-10-11] Intelsat’s 2010 fourth quarter revenues grew 4 percent to $644 million compared with $620.9 million in the same period of 2009, driven by a 14 percent increase in government sales, the operator announced in its latest financial results issued March 9.
    Intelsat also made gains in its 2010 full-year government business, generating revenues of $2.54 billion compared with $2.51 billion in 2009. The operator said it reduced operating expenses in the fourth quarter, which helped grow its income from operations to $256.8 million during the period compared with $228.7 million in the 2009 fourth quarter. The company’s 2010 full-year income from operations also rose by 67 percent to $912.1 million.
    "During the year, we increased and improved capacity for future growth as new satellites entered service, including Intelsat 14, Intelsat 16 and Intelsat 25, and we built backlog through long-term agreements with strategic accounts in each of our customer sets. Our contracted backlog grew to $9.8 billion by the end of December, providing visibility and stability of future cash flows," Intelsat CEO Dave McGlade said in a statement.
    Intelsat cut its net loss from $781.7 million in 2009 to $505.5 million in 2010.
    The operator’s debt produced $344 million in interest in 2010, an increase of $9 million over the interest it accrued in 2009. The operator’s full-year total interest on debt rose 1 percent to $1.38 billion.
    Separately, Bloomberg reported that Intelsat expressed interest in acquiring fellow FSS operator Telesat for $6 billion to $7 billion and was one of the first parties to contact the company, according to unnamed sources in the report. However, the sources also said that Intelsat is backing off of the deal because of concerns that U.S. regulators would not allow the purchase due to Telesat’s standing as the world’s fourth-largest satellite company.
    Telesat and co-owner Loral declined to comment on the report.

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