The SES S.A (“SES”) has been given approval by the Independent Consumer and Competition Commission (‘ICCC’) to acquire Intelsat Holdings S.a.r.l (“Intelsat”) from Intelsat S.A (the “Seller”).

This is according to an assessment and consideration by the ICCC of the application submitted by SES seeking clearance for its proposed acquisition of all the outstanding shares in Intelsat from the Seller.

The proposed acquisition of Intelsat by SES would not have, or would not be likely to have, the effect of substantially lessening of competition in the market for the supply of satellite communication services to satellite service providers and end customers in Papua New Guinea (PNG).

ICCC Commissioner and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Paulus Ain said even though both parties are active satellite service providers, the proposed acquisition is happening outside of PNG as they do not have a physical presence in the country.

“Although the proposed acquisition would reduce the number of satellite operators in PNG by one, there would be no market power conferred to SES as the market positions of the parties involved are marginal in the region,” Mr. Ain said.

“There are multiple satellite operators in the region willing to service customers in PNG including the availability of substitutes which impose competitive constraints, thereby reducing any potential increases in price or profit margin.

“There are also limited barriers to entry and the market is dynamic in terms of growth, innovation, and product differentiation which enables competition to prevail and mitigate any potential anti-competitive conduct by SES post-acquisition.

“Therefore, the ICCC cleared the proposed acquisition to proceed,” Mr. Ain added.