Photo: SES

The European Commission granted unconditional approval for SES’s acquisition of Intelsat, issuing a determination that the combination does not raise competition concerns in the European Economic Area (EEA). 

The EC announced its decision this week after its market investigation that found “credible competitors” in both media broadcast satellite services and ‘two-way’ services to aviation, maritime, and government markets. The EC said the combined entity will be constrained by fiber in the ‘one way’ satellite capacity market, by Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) operators for ‘two-way’ services. 

This speaks to the same reasons SES and Intelsat leaders have shared on why they believe the merger is necessary — to give the combined company the scale needed to better compete. 

The EC also determined that the combined company “would not have the ability to foreclose downstream competitors by restricting access to its satellite capacity.” 

The acquisition also recently cleared the approval of the United Kingdom’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). The CMA decision looked specifically at the market for in-flight connectivity services and determined that the combined company will face “significant competitive pressure” in the IFC market. 

This marks two major European approvals for the merger which will bring together two of the largest satellite operators amid increasing competition from SpaceX’s Starlink constellation and pending competition from Amazon’s Kuiper constellation.  

SES CEO Adel Al-Saleh told investors at the end of April that the acquisition was on track to be completed during the second half of 2025. It must still be approved by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and Department of Justice in the U.S.