Inmarsat signs off on a high
May 19, 2023
By Chris Forrester
London-based Inmarsat will be absorbed by Viasat of California in the near future. Meanwhile, the satellite telco has delivered its strongest revenue numbers in 44 years with improved results cross all its key divisions. Its Aviation segment jumping by more than one-third in Q1 and its Maritime division saw its ninth consecutive quarter-year of growth.
Revenues grew by 16 per cent overall in Q1 to $403 million (€373.5m) with underlying earnings expanding 32 per cent to $259 million.
Its in-flight broadband segment grew by 28 per cent helped by strong demand from the likes of British Airways and Emirates passengers.
CEO Rajeev Suri said that Q1 trading had been exceptional. “The strongest growing segment was in-flight connectivity to commercial airlines that skyrocketed 75 per cent year-on-year and what’s driving that is more aircraft flying and more usage on flights.”
He added that Inmarsat’s own consolidation with Viasat was the start of what he saw as a “shake out” in the industry, saying: “There’s some more consolidation to go. Some of the regional players might also fall into other entities over time. I’m not saying the 55 [current operators] will come down to three or five because they need to be there for sovereign interests.”
But Suri said that consolidation was good and would enable the combined business to be better able to compete with the likes of Elon Musk’s Starlink and the Jeff Bezos-backed Amazon Kuiper scheme.