News Analysis

New York City, March 13, 2013– The World Teleport Association today released Satellite Operator Benchmarks 2013, the third annual WTA global study. The study tracks, rates, and compares the operational and commercial performance of satellite operators, as experienced by teleport operators. The objective of the annual study, now in its third year, is to strengthen the global industry by encouraging self-improvement among all operating companies.

London, UK, March 8, 2013 — Inmarsat plc has reported a drop in its full year 2012 profit before income tax to US $293.6 million from US$366.9 million last year after revenues dried up from the ill-fated LightSquared plan to create a new mobile network in the US.

Saltaire, UK , March 7, 2013 —  Pace plc, a global developer of technologies and products for PayTV and broadband service providers, has announced that revenues rose  4.1% to US$2,403.4 million in 2012 while earnings before interest, tax and amortization (EBITA) rose by 11.8% to US$158.1 million.

London, UK, March 6, 2013--The number of pay TV homes in the Middle East and North Africa will double between 2011 and 2018 to 16.0 million, according to a new report from Digital TV  Research. The third edition of the Digital TV Middle East and North Africa report forecasts that fewer than 15% of TV households (analog and digital)  legitimately paid for TV signals by end-2012. This proportion will climb to 21.6% by 2018. 

Moscow, Russia,  March 1, 2013 – Jean Loïc Galle, President and CEO of Thales Alenia Space,  and Nikolay Testoedov, General Designer and General Director of ISS – Reshetnev  Company, signed an agreement on February 28 for the creation of a Joint Venture between their two companies.

Washington, D.C., February 28, 2013 — Intelsat S.A. reported it suffered a net loss of $146.6 million on revenue of $2,610.2 million in 2012. The company reported EBITDA of $1,940.6 million, and Adjusted EBITDA of $2,016.5 million, or 77 percent of revenue, for 2012. 

Bonn, Germany, Feb 28, 2013 — Deutsche Telekom, the German telecoms group, declared on Thursday it was able to achieve its financial targets for 2012. However, the company downplayed a year-end net loss of €5.3 billion (US$6.93 billion), which it attributed to an impairment loss of €7.4 billion (US$9.67 billion) in the third quarter over the planned merger of T-Mobile USA and MetroPCS.

Deutsche Telekom said Adjusted EBITDA for 2012 totalled €18 billion (US$23.54 billion), down €0.7 billion (US$0.915 billion), or 3.8 percent compared with 2011 and free cash flow of €6.2 billion (US$8.11 billion), exceeding the expected level of around €6 billion (US$7.84 billion).

Luxembourg, February 25, 2013 -- RTL Group reported on Monday revenue rose 4 percent reaching a record €6 billion (US$7.84 billion) in 2012 but profits of €690 million (US$901.58 million) were down 13.2 percent from €795 million (US$1.038 billion) last year.