Telesat and Eutelsat Woes Show Geostationary Model Is Stressed: Analyst
Geostationary orbit satellite operators writing down the value of their GSOs, along with underwhelming GSO orders, are starting to undermine claims for multi-orbit satellite systems, Quilty Space's Caleb Henry wrote Monday. In a call last week with analysts as Telesat…
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announced its latest quarterly earnings, CEO Dan Goldberg acknowledged that the company hasn't ordered a GSO in nine years, even as some of its satellites are nearing the end of their lifespans, "because we haven't been able to close a compelling business case for a new [GSO] in quite some time." Telesat -- with a $187 million write-down -- is the second major GSO operator to disclose a significant impairment charge because of difficulty selling GSO capacity, with Eutelsat reporting a write-down in February, Quilty's Henry said. Both companies, meanwhile, are investing heavily in low earth orbit, with Telesat planning its Lightspeed constellation and Eutelsat buying OneWeb and participating in the EU's Iris2 constellation, he said.