Viasat’s plan to buy London-based Inmarsat has just regulators left to clear in the United States and Europe after getting unconditional approval from the United Kingdom, reports SpaceNews. The U.K.’s competition watchdog said this week that although the two satellite operators compete closely, particularly to provide WiFi on planes, their merged company would face sufficient competition from established and emerging players. The satellite operators pegged the transaction’s value at $7.3 billion through a mix of cash and stock when it was announced in November 2021.
Inmarsat has been working on a project it calls “Orchestra, the communications network of the future,” Inside Towers reported. The satellite firm says the new system will bring together its existing geosynchronous satellites with a planned Low Earth Orbit satellite constellation and terrestrial 5G into a single broadband network aimed at corporate customers.
The satellite communications market is also rapidly evolving, said Richard Feasey, who chaired the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) investigation into the deal. Attracted by increasing demand for connectivity in the air and other areas terrestrial networks cannot reach, lower latency broadband constellations from SpaceX and OneWeb are adding new competitive pressures on Viasat, Inmarsat, and other legacy geostationary satellite networks.
“All the evidence has shown that the sector will continue to grow as the demand for satellite connectivity increases,” Feasey said. “After carefully scrutinizing the deal, we are now satisfied that, following the merger, these developments will ensure that both airlines and their U.K. customers will continue to benefit from strong competition.”
The U.K. initially cleared Viasat’s Inmarsat takeover March 1, subject to a public consultation. The CMA’s final ruling bodes well for a separate merger review by the European Commission that began February 13. It was prompted by concerns over the deal’s impact on the in-flight WiFi market. The European Commission expects to make its decision by June 29, according to SpaceNews.
The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States approved the deal last year. However, the merger still requires a green light from the FCC.
By Leslie Stimson, Inside Towers Washington Bureau Chief
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