John F. Kennedy instigated the creation of Intelsat with his speech to the
United Nations on 25 September 1961. Less than a year later,
John F. Kennedy signed the
Communications Satellite Act of 1962. Intelsat was originally formed as
International Telecommunications Satellite Organization (ITSO) and operated from 1964 to 2001 as an
intergovernmental consortium owning and managing a constellation of
communications satellites providing international broadcast services. In 2001, the international satellite market was fully commercialized, and Intelsat was privatized after 2001 as Intelsat was formed up as a private
Luxembourg corporation.
International Governmental Organization (1964–2001) The International Governmental Organization (IGO) began on (), with 7 participating countries. The 1964 agreement was an interim arrangement on a path to a more permanent agreement. The permanent international organization was established in 1973, following inter-nation negotiations from 1969 to 1971. The most difficult issue to "resolve concerned the shift from management of the system by a national entity to management by the international organization itself". Intelsat was "governed initially by two international agreements: The Agreement setting forth the basic provisions and principles and structure of the organization, signed by the governments through their
foreign ministries, and an Operating Agreement setting forth more detailed financial and technical provisions and signed by the governments or their designated telecommunications entities", — in most cases, the latter are the ministries of communications of the party countries, but in the case of the United States, was the
Communications Satellite Corporation (COMSAT), a private corporation established by
federal legislation to represent the U.S. in international governance for the global communication satellite system. • the Assembly of Parties – meeting every two years and concerned with aspects "primarily of interest to the Parties as sovereign States" It was also this year that Intelsat privatized and changed its name to Intelsat. Since its inception, Intelsat has used several versions (blocks) of its dedicated Intelsat satellites. Intelsat completes each block of spacecraft independently, leading to a variety of satellite manufacturing contractors over the years. Intelsat's largest spacecraft supplier by 2012 was
Space Systems/Loral, having built 47 spacecraft (
Intelsat 20) by that time. The network in its early years was not as robust as it is now. A failure of the Atlantic satellite in the spring of 1969 threatened to stop the
Apollo 11 mission; a replacement satellite went into a bad orbit and could not be recovered in time;
NASA used undersea cable telephone circuits as an alternative to route Apollo's communications to NASA during the mission. During the Apollo 11
moonwalk, the
Moon was over the
Pacific Ocean, and so other antennas were used, as well as Intelsat III, which was in geostationary orbit over the Pacific.
Commercialization By the 1990s, building and launching satellites was no longer exclusively a government domain and as country-specific telecommunications systems were privatized, several private satellite operators arose to meet the growing demand. In the U.S., satellite operators such as
PanAmSat, Orion Communications, Columbia Communications,
Iridium,
Globalstar,
TRW and others formed under the umbrella of the
Alliance for Competitive International Satellite Services (ACISS) to press for an end to the exclusively-intergovernmental organizations operating communication satellites and the monopoly position of
COMSAT the U.S. signatory to Intelsat and
Inmarsat. In March 2001, the
U.S. Congress passed the
Open-market Reorganization for the Betterment of International Telecommunications (ORBIT) Act to privatize COMSAT. In April 1998, to address
U.S. government concerns about market power, Intelsat's senior management spun off five of its older satellites to a private Dutch entity,
New Skies Satellites, which became a direct competitor to Intelsat.
Privatization On 18 July 2001, Intelsat became a private company, 37 years after formation. Prior to Intelsat's privatization in 2001, ownership and investment in Intelsat (measured in shares) was distributed among Intelsat members according to their use of services. Investment shares determined each member's percentage of the total contribution needed to finance capital expenditures. The organization's primary source of revenue was satellite usage fees which, after deduction of operating costs, was redistributed to Intelsat members in proportion to their shares as repayment of capital and compensation for use of capital. Satellite services were available to any organization (both Intelsat members and non-members), and all users paid the same rates.
Intelsat Americas-7 (known formerly as
Telstar 7 and known as Galaxy 27 since on 1 February 2007) experienced a several-day power failure on 29 November 2004. The satellite returned to service with reduced capacity. in
Washington, D.C. Intelsat was sold for US$3.1 billion in January 2005 to four
private equity firms:
Madison Dearborn Partners,
Apax Partners,
Permira and
Apollo Global Management. The company acquired
PanAmSat on 3 July 2006, and was then the world's largest provider of fixed satellite services, operating a fleet of 52 satellites in prime orbital locations. In June 2007,
BC Partners announced it had acquired 76% of Intelsat for about €3.75 billion.
Intelsat S.A. (Luxembourg) In April 2013, the renamed Intelsat S.A. undertook an
initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange, raising a net US$550 million, of which US$492 million was paid immediately to reduce outstanding company debts of US$15.9 billion. In May 2013, the company announced it would be purchasing four new high-performance
Boeing EpicNG 702 MP satellites. In 2015, Intelsat
reincorporated in Delaware and became Intelsat Corporation. There were negotiations in 2017 that Intelsat could potentially merge with
Softbank-backed
OneWeb. However, on 1 June 2017, it was announced that the bondholders would not accept the offer and that the potential merger would be terminated as of 2 June 2017.
Operations After 2014, Intelsat maintained its corporate administrative headquarters in
Tysons, Virginia, where a majority of its employees worked at the time. Intelsat maintains constantly staffed global network operations centers in its Tysons Corner location and in
Ellenwood, Georgia. A highly international business, Intelsat sources the majority of its revenue from non-U.S. located customers. In addition to its satellite fleet, Intelsat owns and operates eight teleports around the world.
Bankruptcy Intelsat filed for a
Chapter 11 bankruptcy in U.S. courts on 13 May 2020, just before the new
5G spectrum auctions, with over US$15 billion in total debt. Public reporting showed that the company had been considering bankruptcy protection as early as February 2020, as Intelsat formally withdrew from the
C-Band Alliance. The C-Band Alliance was an industry consortium of the major satellite operators. The consortium had been formed to lobby U.S.
regulator, the
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regarding the reassignment and payment for the legacy 5G spectrum of its members. According to then company CEO, Stephen Spengler, post bankruptcy, the company plans to pursue aggressive network innovation plans, and strategic growth initiatives, including building a software-defined 5G network. The company also announced a new board of directors, led by Lisa Hammitt, executive vice president and chief technology officer at Davidson Technologies.
Acquisition of Gogo Commercial Aviation In December 2020, Intelsat completed its acquisition of Gogo's Commercial Aviation (CA) business. The vertical integration combined Intelsat's next-generation global telecommunications network with Gogo CA's customer-facing capabilities offering airlines and passengers an enhanced inflight entertainment and connectivity (IFEC) experience.
Acquisition by SES On 30 April 2024, satellite operator,
SES announced that an agreement had been reached to acquire Intelsat for €2.8 billion (US$3.1 billion) cash, with the transaction expected to complete regulatory clearance in the second half of 2025. With over 100 GEO satellites, 26 MEO satellites, and 13 satellites on order, the combined company's multi-orbit capability will improve competitiveness against rival
LEO satellite networks, and has an expected 2024 revenue of €3.8 billion. The UK
Competition and Markets Authority was first to clear the acquisition in May 2025, deciding to not open an in-depth investigation, and in June 2025, the
European Commission gave its unconditional approval, determining that the acquisition does not raise competition concerns in the
European Economic Area. On 11 July 2025, US
Federal Communications Commission approved the acquisition. Six days later, the acquisition was completed. The Intelsat brand will continue to be used until it is phased out at a later date. == In-space refueling demonstration project ==