Advanced Television

Intelsat Q3 revenues still under pressure

October 26, 2017

By Chris Forrester

Intelsat’s headline numbers for Q3 are steady when compared with previous quarters. This latest period saw total revenues of $539 million (€456.2m) for the 3 months to September 30th, which is down 1 per cent on the same period last year ($543m) but up modestly on Q2 ($533m). Overall loss for Q3 was $30 million.

Intelsat’s CEO Steve Spengler said that a number of trends were reflected during the quarter, not least that there was a slower than expected revenue ramp for Intelsat’s Epic fleet, “specifically with wireless and enterprise customers, with new contract signings below initial expectations”. Also, there were “revenue declines due to certain non-renewals, including point-to-point services moving to fibre alternatives and regional and national satellite operators”.

These declines, as well as continued pricing pressures resulted in a fall in Intelsat’s contracted backlog, from $8.2 billion (as at June 30th this year) to $7.9 billion at the end of September.

“Until our new assets and strategies, including managed services, achieve greater momentum, our business remains in transition, causing our return to growth to take longer than previously anticipated. Our heavy investment phase related to our high-throughput satellites is now nearing completion. The lower capital expenditures associated with our next replacement cycle are expected to support an improved cash flow profile and financial flexibility over the next several years,”

Categories: Articles, Business, DTH/Satellite, Results