Intelsat ‘meeting expectations’, despite earnings drop

Intelsat said that its business is performing “to our 2015 expectations,” despite reporting year-on-year revenue and profit drops for the first quarter. 

Announcing its results for the three months ended March 31, the satellite operator said that each of its customer sets made “progress on long-term goals in the first quarter” and that its recently-deployed Intelsat 30 satellite “supported renewed growth in our media business.”

Intelsat CEO, Stephen Spengler said “one of our top priorities in 2015 is delivering capacity for launch” and that the launch of its Intelsat 34, Intelsat 29e and Intelsat 31 satellites, all in the next 12 months, remain on schedule.

However, Intelsat reported overall Q1 revenues of US$602.3 million (€539.3 million), down from US$628.9 million for the same quarter a year earlier.

Net income attributable to Intelsat came in at US$54.7 million, down from US$89.1 million a year earlier. EBITDA was US$460.5 million compared to US$498.7 million the year before.

Intelsat said that network services accounted for US$276.6 million of its revenues, down 5% year-on-year, and government revenues came to US$94.8 million, down 13%. Media revenues were up 1% at US$224.8 million.

Network services comprised 46% of total first quarter revenue, media 37% and government 16%.

Intelsat’s next scheduled satellite launch is Intelsat 34, which is a replacement satellite for its 304.5°E video neighbourhood. It is expected to launch in the third quarter of 2015 and be in service by early 2016.