The European Commission said on Tuesday it had unconditionally approved the proposed acquisition of Intelsat by SES, confirming an earlier Reuter story on eBusiness Life.
The $3.1-billion bid made by the European satellite company for its rival will create a major European player to rival Elon Musk’s Space X-owned Starlink.
“The Commission concluded that the transaction would not raise competition concerns in the European Economic Area,” EU’s executive arm said in a statement.
SES, which operates a multi-orbit fleet of around 70 satellites providing services such as video broadcasting, government communications and broadband internet and is seen as an alternative to SpaceX’s Starlink, sought EU approval for the deal on April 29.
Together with other European satellite companies, Luxembourg-headquartered SES is looking for greater scale to compete more effectively with Starlink and Amazon’s Project Kuiper.
