As Satellite News was going to print on Dec. 3, Intelsat Ltd. announced that as a result of pursuing a recovery mission, the company has gained contact and control of the Intelsat Amerias-7 (IA-7) satellite.

The satellite experienced a sudden and unusual electrical distribution early Nov. 28, causing the satellite to go dark. Intelsat said it has already moved many of its customers onto different satellites.

Intelsat said that it is still testing the capabilities of the satellite, but operations have been restored on a portion of the satellite’s transponders and the company expects to have “key customers” returned to normal operation on IA-7 by the end of the day.

“Our first priority in this event was to address the needs of our existing customers and their end-users,” Intelsat CEO Conny Kullman said in a statement. “We are keeping Zeus Holdings Ltd., Intelsat’s prospective acquirer, fully apprised of developments as they occur with respect to the IA-7 satellite.”