Intelsat, SES Could Rake in Billions From C-Band Clearing, NSR Says
Clearing part of the C-band for terrestrial use may mean a windfall in the mid to high single-digit billions of dollars for Intelsat and SES, available for eliminating debt and investing in new constellations and services, Northern Sky Research analyst…
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Gagan Agrawal blogged Thursday. The two have close to 90 percent of the C-band capacity in the U.S., largely for video distribution, but spectrum rights are expiring next decade and the performance of the C-band business is declining due to capacity pricing issues and over-the-top competition to pay TV, NSR said. Compensating cable head-ends for filters and ground equipment could cost around $900 million, it said. Other costs could include SES and Intelsat each needing to put up a new satellite to retain video customers with Ku-band service. It said the entire value of 3.7-4.2 GHz, minus 50 to 100 MHz for a guard band, could be $60 billion-$75 billion. However, it said, regulators might force C-band satellite operators to invest proceeds in an already saturated U.S. market, reducing the ultimate cash benefit.