Upper C-band auction offers another lift for GEO industry

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!SES’s Betzdorf headquarters in Luxembourg, shown here with its satellite antenna field, anchors the company’s global operations following its Intelsat acquisition.SES’s Betzdorf headquarters in Luxembourg, shown here with its satellite antenna field.

TAMPA, Fla. — Satellite operators have welcomed the prospect of reaping more than $6 billion for quickly clearing upper C-band spectrum the FCC aims to auction next year, with billions more set to cover new geostationary spacecraft and other transition costs.

Luxembourg-based SES, by far the largest spectrum incumbent, is in line for about $5.6 billion if it can meet clearing deadlines in 2030 and 2031 so telcos can use the band for wireless services.

Eutelsat of France, which today also uses the frequencies to distribute TV services in the United States, would get $504 million for a smaller share, while Canada’s Telesat with the smallest has been earmarked $189 million.

The operators would need to move services to the remaining 40 megahertz of upper C-band, or other spectrum such as Ku-band, after lower C-band frequencies were sold in a 2020 auction that raised more than $80 billion from telcos such as Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile.

The FCC said it estimates clearing costs to range from $4 billion to $5 billion in an order released July 24, days after voting to conduct the auction by July 2027.

Auction winners “will be responsible for the entire allowed costs of relocation,” the U.S. regulator said, “including those costs that exceed this estimated range.”

SES earlier estimated its total cost to clear 160 MHz of upper C-band spectrum would be about $3.6 billion, with $150 million for allowed contingencies.

“SES is actively negotiating contracts for the satellites and launches and expects that the cost for new satellites (including costs incurred for satellite procurement, launch, insurance, and ground equipment for each satellite) will total approximately $2.62 billion,” Nancy Eskenazi, SES senior vice president for global legal and regulatory affairs, told the FCC June 18.

The company later requested permission to operate seven new satellites: five hybrid Ku-band satellites with C-band uplink capability, plus two in-orbit backups.

In a July 27 statement, SES CEO Adel Al-Saleh said: “We are pleased that the incentive payments appropriately recognize the critical role SES will play in repurposing 160 MHz of upper C-band spectrum for next-generation terrestrial wireless services.”

A spokesperson for Eutelsat told SpaceNews it was still assessing the need to order satellites to meet the clearing obligations.

“We welcome the order published by the FCC,” Eutelsat CEO Jean-François Fallacher said in a statement, adding: “Eutelsat is committed to working with the FCC and other stakeholders to ensure the transition is executed in a timely manner which is seamless for customers.”

Telesat also said it had yet to determine whether any new satellites would be needed to clear its upper C-band portion.

“Building on our successful execution of the previous C-band transition, we look forward to working closely with customers, earth station operators, and regulators to efficiently clear this spectrum while ensuring continuity of services,” Telesat CEO Dan Goldberg said in a statement.

For the 2020 auction, SES and Intelsat, which the Luxembourg-based company later acquired, ordered 13 spacecraft between them. The orders provided a much-needed shot in the arm for a geostationary business that has been steadily declining amid the rise of low Earth orbit constellations, such as SpaceX’s Starlink broadband network.

Eutelsat had announced its intention to buy a C-band replacement satellite back then, but later concluded it had enough idle capacity to serve customers without expanding its fleet. Telesat also did not order a spacecraft for its previous spectrum-clearing obligations.

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Jason Rainbow

Jason Rainbow writes about satellite telecom, finance and commercial markets for SpaceNews. He has spent more than a decade covering the global space industry as a business journalist. Previously, he was Group Editor-in-Chief for Finance Information Group,... More by Jason Rainbow

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