Consolidation was on everyone’s lips at the opening panel of SATELLITE 2003. New Skies Satellites [NYSE: NSK] CEO Dan Goldberg questioned whether industry consolidation is likely to happen, despite continuing speculation in the fixed-satellite service (FSS) industry. “I think consolidation has got a disproportionate amount of airtime. I don’t think it is going to change our industry that much.”

Goldberg said he believes that size and scale are not necessarily keys to success in the FSS sector. He added, “I don’t think our smaller size has impeded with our ability to compete with the bigger operators.”

SES Global CEO Romain Bausch said he believes complementary strategies are the keys to possible industry consolidation. “You should combine operators who are strong in the same areas. If there is no good strategic fit, there will not be much consolidation.”