Carlsbad’s Viasat has completed its $6.1 billion acquisition of London-based Inmarsat on Wednesday — accelerating the company’s bid to become a global supplier of satellite broadband for aircraft, ships, governments and hard-to-reach residences.
The merger also bulks up Viasat to withstand a wave of new competition in space-based Internet — led by SpaceX’s Starlink fleet but also including Amazon, OneWeb and others. Both Viasat and Inmarsat have a solid foothold in supplying commercial airlines with in-flight Wi-Fi — with customers including Delta, American, United, JetBlue and Southwest airlines. Viasat also supplies connectivity to government aircraft including Air Force One.The deal, first announced in November 2021, cleared the final anti-monopoly regulatory review in the U.S. and Europe over the past couple of weeks.
Viasat was able to lock in financing in the fall of 2021 when the deal was announced — thus benefiting from a better interest rate environment than today.