Pressure from new competitors like Space X have pushed the satellite industry, traditionally wary of mergers, to prepare for consolidation. — AFP
"I’m sure everyone’s talking to everyone,” said SES Chief Executive Officer Steve Collar. Space is"essentially a fixed-cost industry, so the scale that’s generated from consolidation can be important financially. And obviously we’ve also seen some disruptors coming into the industry. That can also be a catalyst,” he said in an interview.
But each launch is an expensive bet that clients won’t defect to other technologies. Combining forces would make these rollouts more efficient. "Eutelsat and SES were the giants but now, compared with the potential of Elon Musk and Amazon to invest in this industry, they are very very small – and they don’t have the leadership in the new technologies,” said Kepler Cheuvreux analyst David Cerdan.