Intelsat Plugs C-Band Alliance Proposal in Financial Statement

Global satellite services provider Intelsat put in a plug Wednesday (Feb. 20) for a proposal to pay it for giving up some of that satellite spectrum for terrestrial 5G.

That pitch came its report of fourth quarter and full-year financial results, in which Intelsat said it lost $111 million in the fourth quarter and $600 million in 2018.

The FCC is seeking ways to free up more spectrum for 5G. The C-Band Alliance, comprising fixed satellite service operators including Intelsat (SES, Eutelsat and Telesat are the others), has proposed a market-based solution to negotiate secondary-market agreements with satellite providers for up to 200 MHz of C-band (3.7-4.2 GHz band) spectrum.

Intelsat said that is the only way to go.

"[W]e continue to promote our FCC proposal to clear a portion of our U.S. spectrum to accelerate the deployment of 5G in the U.S., " it said in releasing its financials. "The C-Band Alliance proposal is the only path that protects the services essential to our customers’ businesses, while at the same time enabling the U.S. to win the race for 5G."

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.