Chris Forrester
Journalist Chris Forrester has filed a story at the Advanced Television infosite regarding unconfirmed reports that have been sourced from financial analyst and data company Debtwire suggest that Intelsat might be exploring relocation cost financing and that the company’s unsecured bond-holders have hired a law firm.
The news prompted a 57 percent rise in Intelsat’s share price on April 8 to $1.65 (from $1.05) and, at one point during the day, hit $1.82 per share. Intelsat is heavily indebted with some $14 billion in debt and borrowings.
The news comes with a further batch of Class Actions launched against certain major shareholders in the satellite company. As we have reported, there has been little visibility over the past two months as to Intelsat’s intentions. It could receive some $5 billion as a result of a planned FCC auction of some of its C-band spectrum, but to qualify for that payment, it has to take part in the auction.
Intelsat’s last quarterly earnings report was issued on February 20 with the firm's next report, for Q1, expected about mid-May.
The Advanced Television infosite is also hosting a story that notes the Swarm Technologies constellation of SpaceBee satellites that achieved notoriety back in September of 2018, when the company behind the system launched four of its craft into orbit aboard an Indian rocket, which then resulted in a problem because the company had not been licensed to launch, or operate, while in orbit. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) was not pleased and fined the business $900,000.
The criticism was not helped insofar as the FCC had earlier specifically forbidden Swarm to launch satellites. California-based Swarm wants its fleet of satellites to serve Internet of Things (IoT) applications and it has established ground stations in the US, UK, Antarctica, Sweden, New Zealand and the Azores islands.
The company has now received all the necessary FCC permissions to continue its business plan. “Having received all regulatory approvals to operate commercially in the US, in several other countries, and over international waters, we are one step closer to providing affordable satellite connectivity to the world,” Swarm stated in a blog statement.
Swarm Technologies smallsat.
The company added that it would start services later this year with 30 ground stations ready to relay the constellations data. The plan calls for 150 low orbiting satellites, although the FCC permissions extend to 600 SpaceBees, should the company want to expand their orbital portfolio.