Intelsat’s EBITDA for the period ending March 21 was $481.2 million, with adjusted EBITDA reaching 77 percent of revenue at $496.7 million. The operator increased its transponder services revenue by an aggregate of $12.7 million, primarily due to a $12.5 million boost it received from a capacity sale to media customers primarily in Latin America, the Caribbean, Europe and North America. Intelsat also took in $3.8 million in revenue from a capacity sale by its Intelsat General business.

   The growth in its transponder services, however, was partially offset by a $3.6 million decrease in revenue from network services customers. Intelsat’s managed and channel services also took a slight dip during the 2012 first quarter. The company’s managed services decreased $5 million compared to the same period last year due to a decrease in revenue from network services seeking international trunking solutions primarily in Africa — a trend that Intelsat expects will continue due to the migration of services in this region to fiber optic cable.

Intelsat channel services revenue decreased $3.5 million from the prior year, which also was due to a continued decline from the migration of international point-to-point satellite traffic to fiber optic cables.

   The operator’s satellite-related services revenue dropped $5.2 million year-over-year due to lower professional fees earned for providing government professional services and flight operations support for third-party satellites following the conclusion of certain contracts.

   Intelsat CEO Dave McGlade said that most of the success his company achieved in the first quarter was driven by government customer demands for mission-critical communications infrastructure. “We successfully launched Intelsat 22 in March, carrying the Australian Defense Force hosted payload and continuing the deployment of beams for our global broadband mobility infrastructure,” McGlade said in a statement. “This continued enhancement of our network positions Intelsat to serve high-demand applications in regions where growth is strongest.”

   McGlade also confirmed that Intelsat’s 2012 investment program includes the launch of four additional satellites to provide incremental capacity supporting future customer growth. “With contracted backlog of $10.5 billion providing visibility for future revenue and cash flows, we are focused on our 2012 investment program.”

Intelsat’s average transponder fill rate was 79 percent at the end of March.

   Separately, Intelsat announced the appointments of Peter Ostapiuk as vice president of media product management and Mark Rasmussen as regional vice president of North American sales.

   Ostapiuk, who previously served as Intelsat’s regional vice president of North America Media Services, will be responsible for implementing product strategies for Intelsat’s media business. Rasmussen will lead the sales efforts for all of Intelsat’s North American network services and media businesses.